Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.

What the children think. . .
The generation gap is more like a chasm in Hong Kong - the territory's teenagers rarely turn to their parents or teachers for advice on anything. Whether it be sex, AIDS, school worries or family problems, adults are not considered up to the job.
Until now, no one has asked Hong Kong youth, ''What do you think?''. An inkling into the emotions of Hong Kong's adolescents, however, has come from the work of Dr. Jeffrey Day at the University of Hong Kong, where he works in the Social Sciences Research Centre. His survey of young people does not focus, for example, on how many drugs they take - but tries to answer the question why.
A questionnaire asked young people about everything, from habits of personal hygiene to how they cope with a crisis; who they turn to in times of trouble; if they drink, smoke and if they feel good about themselves. ''We wanted to ask, for the first time, 'What are you thinking, how are you behaving?’ ''Dr. Day said.
Past research, such as a recent home-school questionnaire, has focused on parents and teachers' views but not consulted pupils. Dr. Day went to 11 local Chinese schools - single sex, co-ed and those with both high and low academic standing - and four international schools across the territory, handing out The Health Related Behavior Questionnaire to 2,000 pupils aged 11 to 18 years, 400 of them at international schools.
Questions covering home-life, family and friends revealed that adults are probably the last to hear about teenagers' problems. He noted that, in all cases, fathers in particular ''emerged very badly as sources to be contacted for help''. Whether it be school problems, health, career, friends or family matters, few turn to their father for help. It is to their mothers they are most likely to turn, but then mainly with health problems. It was only money and career matters which induced five per cent of teenagers to ask their fathers for advice. Friends are the popular confidants.
Less than 15 per cent said they would consult a teacher for help with a problem at school. And when it comes to sex, only 13 per cent said that families were a source of information - even though they believed parents should tell them about the facts of life. They want their parents' advice but feel they cannot ask, believes Dr. Day.
In the section covering smoking, one statistic stands out: the rate of smoking among girls is set to rise as their generation gets older if the trend is not reversed. Overall, 15 per cent of students under 16 spent money on alcohol and 10 per cent of those under 16 spent money on cigarettes.

Notes: 1. Chasm: a big gap                2. Inkling: a slight suggestion
    3. Induced: caused

COMPREHENSION: (08pts)
A. Vocabulary in context: Match the following words with their equivalence in the text
1    A set of questions used to gather information in a survey    
2    To deal successfully with a difficult problem    
3    A school for both sexes    
4    A general tendency    

B. Referencing: What do the underlined words in the text refer to? (01pt)
5. Those (with): refers to………………………………..
6. Few (turn): refers to………………………………….

C. Are the following statements true or false: justify your answer by quoting from the text (03pts)
7. The writer’s survey does not focus on the reason why young people take drugs.
………………………………………………………………………………………
8. The survey shows that teenagers hardly refer to their fathers when they have problems.
………………………………………………………………………………………
9. Fewer than twenty percent of teens talk about sex with their families.
…………………………………………………………………………………………

D. Cloze text: Fill in the gaps with relevant words from the text (02,5pts)
The author is conducting a………………… about how young people in Hong Kong think and find solutions to their daily problems. He had first conducted a………………….questionnaire that did not concerns…………………...but this time he decided to include them in the survey.
The result is very surprising because it shows that teens address more their……………….. than they do with their own …………………….

LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE: (07pts)
E. Fill in the gaps with the right form of the word in parenthesis (01pt)
Today’s teenagers are becoming more and more (disobey)………………………They no longer obey their parents and this is very (regret)…………………………

F. A daughter and her mother are talking: Complete their dialogue meaningfully (04pts)
A: Don’t go anywhere, ……………………………… ? I have to talk to you.
B: O.K Mum here am I.
A: I have noticed that you are no longer eating too much.
B: I am just suffering from a slight stomachache but nothing more.
A:…………………………………………………………………………………..?
B: Just for five days.
A: ……………………… (tell) me what happened?
B: I didn’t want to afraid you because you are fragile.
A: And you decided to refer to your friends, ………………………………………?
B: No, I haven’t talked to any friend yet; you are the first to know about it.
A: Well, put on your clothes we’re going to see Dr. Dieng.

G. Put the verbs into the right form and tense (02pts)
A: I hope that teenagers should (advise)……………………and (reorient)…………………
B: If we (not/do)…………………so, they may have difficulties succeeding in their lives later.
A: Well, the problem is that before teens (listen)…………………………… to their elders but now they only hear what their friends tell them.

ESSAY WRITING: (05pts)
H. Choose one of the following topics and write about 150 words
Topic1: Nowadays, most of the teenagers no longer refer to their parents when they have some health, social or financial problems. Try and explain this fact.

Topic2: Two teenagers are discussing about what parents should and shouldn’t know about their children’s lives. Imagine their conversation.