“Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him，and let him know

“Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him，and let him know that you trust him.” These words are from the black American educator，Booker Washington. He was saying that，“If you want people to grow up，you have to stop treating them like children.”
In America，families are close but children are encouraged to be independent，to make their own decisions，even at a very early age. It’s not unusual for a child of seven to be given an allowance(津贴)every week. The child is encouraged to save some of the money but he or she can spend it on whatever they choose，for example，buying clothes，school supplies or CDs. Some teenagers even have their own credit cards! That’s a big responsibility since even adults are tempted to overspend when they have credit cards.
From an early age，American children are asked for their opinions and they are included in family decision making. At the dinner table，teenagers will be listened to on any topic，from politics to buying a new family car or where the family will go on vacation. In this way, teenagers are getting practice in being individuals：they are learning how to stand on their own two feet.
Many Chinese young people are being almost as interested as American teens in searching for independence. They want to express those qualities that make them unique human beings. You can see this in the way they dress, the music they listen to and the friends they choose. “Super Girl” Li Yuchun caught the imagination of Chinese teenagers on the “Super Girl” television contest. She was not the traditional “nice，young Chinese girl”. With her short，spiky hair and boy-like clothes, she was telling everyone that she was different. She had the courage to be her own person and to stand on her own two feet...and she won!
There is an old saying，“Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him and then choose that way with all his strength.” If you do this, step by step, over a period of time, you may find that you have bee the person you always wanted to be.
【小题1】The passage is intended to encourage the youth to    .A．save money for useful thingsB．bee independentC．express their great ambitionsD．make important decisions【小题2】A child of seven is given an allowance so that he can    .A．be accepted as a popular guyB．learn to decide how to use moneyC．overspend money without careD．have school supplies of his own【小题3】The author implies that many Chinese children    .A．are more independent than AmericansB．should bee interested in AmericaC．are happy with their present situationD．are not satisfied to be nice, quiet ones【小题4】The main idea of the last paragraph is    .A．that we should do things step by stepB．why we should understand our desiresC．what we should plan for our own lifeD．how we can manage to realize our dreamsB