Questions 11 to 20 are based on the following passage.
【真题来源:2014年6月大学英语四级真题(第二套)Part Ⅲ,Section B,第46-55题】
The Touch-Screen Generation
A) On a chilly day last spring, a few dozen developers of children's apps (应用程序) for phones and tablets (平板电脑) gathered at an old beach resort in Monterey, California, to show off their games. The gathering was organized by Warren Buckleitner, a longtime reviewer of interactive children's media. Buckleitner spent the breaks testing whether his own remote-control helicopter could reach the hall's second story, while various children who had come with their parents looked up in awe (敬畏) and delight. But mostly they looked down, at the iPads and other tablets displayed around the hall like so many open boxes of candy. I walked around and talked with developers, and several quoted a famous saying of Maria Montessori's, "The hands are the instruments of man's intelligence."
B) What, really, would Maria Montessori have made of this scene? The 30 or so children here were not down at the shore poking (戳) their fingers in the sand or running them along stones or picking seashells. Instead they were all inside, alone or in groups of two or three, their faces a few inches from a screen, their hands doing things Montessori surely did not imagine.
C) In 2011, the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its policy on very young children and media. In 1999, the group had discouraged television viewing for children younger than 2, citing research on brain development that showed this age group's critical need for "direct interactions with parents and other significant care givers". The updated report began by acknowledging that things had changed significantly since then. In 2006, 90% of parents said that their children younger than 2 consumed some form of electronic media. Nevertheless, the group took largely the same approach it did in 1999, uniformly discouraging passive media use, on any type of screen, for these kids. (For older children, the academy noted, "high-quality programs" could have "educational benefits".) The 2011 report mentioned "smart cell phone" and "new screen" technologies, but did not address interactive apps. Nor did it bring up the possibility that has likely occurred to those 90% of American parents that some good might come from those little swiping (在电子产品上刷) fingers.
D) I had come to the developers' conference partly because I hoped that this particular set of parents, enthusiastic as they were about interactive media, might help me out of this problem, that they might offer some guiding principle for American parents who are clearly never going to meet the academy's ideals, and at some level do not want to. Perhaps this group would be able to express clearly some benefits of the new technology that the more cautious doctors weren't ready to address.
E) I fell into conversation with a woman who had helped develop Montessori Letter Sounds, an app that teaches preschoolers the Montessori methods of spelling. She was a former Montessori teacher and a mother of four. I myself have three children who are all fans of the touch screen. What games did her kids like to play, I asked, hoping for suggestions I could take home.
"They don't play all that much."
Really? Why not?
"Because I don't allow it. We have a rule of no screen time during the week, unless it's clearly educational."
No screen time? None at all? That seems at the outer edge of restrictive, even by the standards of over-controlling parents.
"On the weekends, they can play. I give them a limit of half an hour and then stop. Enough."
F) Her answer so surprised me that I decided to ask some of the other developers who were also parents what their domestic ground rules for screen time were. One said only on airplanes and long car rides. Another said Wednesdays and weekends, for half an hour. The most permissive said half an hour a day, which was about my rule at home. At one point I sat with one of the biggest developers of e-book apps for kids, and his family. The small kid was starting to fuss in her high chair, so the morn stuck an iPad in front of her and played a short movie so everyone else could enjoy their lunch. When she saw me watching, she gave me the universal tense look of mothers who feel they are being judged. "At home," she assured me, "I only let her watch movies in Spanish."
G) By their reactions, these parents made me understand the problem of our age: as technology becomes almost everywhere in our lives, American parents are becoming more, not less, distrustful of what it might be doing to their children. Technological ability has not, for parents, translated into comfort and ease. On the one hand, parents want their children to swim expertly in the digital stream that they will have to navigate (航行) all their lives; on the other hand, they fear that too much digital media, too early, will sink them. Parents end up treating tablets as precision surgical (外科的) instruments, devices that might perform miracles for their child's IQ and help him win some great robotics competition—but only if they are used just so. Otherwise, their child could end up one of those sad, pale creatures who can't make eye contact and has a girlfriend who lives only in the virtual world.
H) Norman Rockwell, a 20-century artist, never painted Boy Swiping Finger on Screen, and our own vision of a perfect childhood has never been adjusted to accommodate that now-common scene. Add to that our modem fear that every parenting decision may have lasting consequences—that every minute of enrichment lost or mindless entertainment indulged (放纵的) will add up to some permanent handicap (障碍) in the future—and you have deep guilt and confusion. To date, no body of research has proved that the iPad will make your preschooler smarter or teach her to speak Chinese, or alternatively that it will rest her nervous system—the device has been out for only three years, not much more than the time it takes some academics to find funding and gather research subjects. So what is a parent to do?
The author attended the conference, hoping to find some guiding principles for parenting in the electronic age.
D)段首句提到,我参加这次开发人员大会的部分原因,就是希望这群热衷于互动媒体的家长可以解答我的疑问,也希望他们能为美国……家长提供一些指导。由此可见,作者参加大会是希望为电子时代的育儿找到一些指导。本题是对该句的同义转述。题中的attended the conference对应文中的had come to the developers' conference; find some guiding principles for parenting对应offer some guiding principle for American parents。
American parents are becoming more doubtful about the benefits technology is said to bring to their children.
G)段首句冒号后提到,随着技术在我们的生活中变得无处不在,美国的家长们却对技术给孩子带来的影响变得更加不信任,而不是更加信任。其中的it指代前文提到的technology。本题是对该句的同义转述。题中的doubtful对应文中的distrustful; the benefits...to bring to their children对应it might be doing to their children。
Some experts believe that human intelligence develops by the use of hands.
A)段末句提到,作者和开发人员们交谈,有几名开发人员提到了玛丽亚•蒙台梭利的一句名言:“手是人类智力的工具。”由此可见,一些专家认为,人类的智力是通过使用双手发展的。本题是对该句的同义转述。题中的some对应文中的several;experts对应developers;human对应man's。
The author found a former Montessori teacher exercising strict control over her kids' screen time.
E)段前两句提到,“我”和一位曾经是蒙台梭利教育法老师的女士交谈:接着对话中这位女士提到,她不让她的孩子们玩触屏设备,她规定除了周末其他时间都不许看屏幕,除非是和教育特别有关的;最后作者总结指出,这个规矩快接近严厉的极限了。综合这几句可知,作者发现一名曾经的蒙台梭利教育学老师严格控制她的孩子使用屏幕的时间。本题是对这几句的概括。题中的strict control over是对文中...I don't allow it. 及That seems at the outer edge of restrictive...的概括。
Research shows interaction with people is key to babies' brain development.
C)段第2句提到,1999年,学会曾反对让2岁以下的儿童观看电视,他们引用大脑发育方面的研究表明,这个年龄段的儿童十分需要“与家长或其他主要看护者的直接互动”。由此可见,有研究表明,与他人的互动是儿童大脑发育的关键。本题是对该句的同义转述。题中的interaction with people对应文中的interactions with parents and other significant care givers;key对应critical need;babies对应children younger than 2。
So far there has been no scientific proof of the educational benefits of iPads.
H)段倒数第2句提到,迄今为止,还没有研究机构证明iPad能让学龄前儿童更聪明、或是教她学会中文。本题是对该句的同义转述。题中的the educational benefits是对文中make your preschooler smarter or teach her to speak Chinese的概括。
American parents worry that overuse of tablets will create problems with their kids' interpersonal relationships.
G)段倒数第3句第二个分句提到,另一方面,他们害怕过早接触太多数字媒体会把他们淹没。接着下文具体讲述了他们的担心,其中末句提到,否则(即过早接触太多数字媒体),他们的孩子可能会变成那种可怜的、肤色苍白的人,不敢接触别人的目光,只能找到生活在虚拟世界中的女朋友。综合这两句可知,美国的家长们担心,过度使用平板电脑会导致孩子的人际交往出现问题。本题是对文中信息的概括。题中的interpersonal relationships对应文中的can't make eye contact and has a girlfriend who lives only in the virtual world。
The author expected developers of children's apps to specify the benefits of the new technology.
D)段末句提到,也许这群开发人员能清楚地说明新技术的好处。其中的this group指代参加会议的儿童应用程序开发者们。本题是对该句的同义转述。题中的specify对应文中的express clearly。
The kids at the gathering were more fascinated by the iPads than by the helicopter.
A)段首句提到,几十名开发面向儿童使用的手机和平板电脑应用程序的开发人员聚集在加州蒙特雷一座老旧的海滩度假村,展示他们开发的游戏,接着第2-4句说,这场聚会的组织者巴克莱纳测试了他的遥控直升机是否能飞到大厅二层,而大部分时间孩子们都低头看着大厅四周展示的iPad和其他平板电脑。由此可见,聚会上的孩子对iPad的兴趣超过直升机。本题是对这几处信息的概括。
The author permits her children to use the screen for at most half an hour a day.
F)段第4句提到,最宽容的一位允许孩子每天看半小时屏幕,和我家里的规矩差不多。由此可见,作者允许自己的孩子每天使用屏幕的时间不超过半小时。本题是对该句的同义转述。题中的permits与permissive构成同根词复现。