单选题 On her first morning in America, last summer, my daughter went out to explore her new neighborhood—alone, without even telling my wife or me. Of course we were worried; we had just moved from Berlin, and she was just 8. But when she came home, we realized we had no reason to panic. Beaming with pride, she told us how she had discovered the little park around the corner, and had made friends with a few local dog owners. She had taken possession of her new environment, and was keen to teach us things we didn"t know.
When this story comes up in conversations with American friends, we are usually met with polite disbelief. Most are horrified by the idea that their children might roam around without adult supervision. A study by the University of California, Los Angeles, has found that American kids spend 90 percent of their leisure time at home. Even when kids are physically active, they are watched closely by adults. Such narrowing of the child"s world has happened across the developed world. But Germany is generally much more accepting of letting children take some risks. To this German parent, it seems that America"s middle class has taken overprotective parenting to a new level.
"We are depriving them of opportunities to learn how to take control of their own lives," writes Peter Gray, a research professor at Boston College. He argues that this increases "the chance that they will suffer from anxiety, depression, and so on," which have gone up dramatically in recent decades. He sees risky, outside play of children among themselves without adult supervision as a way of learning to control strong emotions like anger and fear.
I am no psychologist like Professor Gray, but I know I won"t be around forever to protect my girl from the challenges life holds in store for her, so the earlier she develop the intellectual maturity to navigate the world, the better. And by giving kids more control over their lives, they learn to have more confidence in their own capabilities.
It is hard for parents to balance the desire to protect their children against the desire to make them more self-reliant. And every one of us has to decide for himself what level of risk he is ready to accept. But parents who prefer to keep their children always in sight and under their thumbs should consider what sort of trade-offs are involved in that choice.
单选题 Which of the following is NOT true about the author"s daughter?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题
NOT true, the author"s daughter
根据题干关键词定位到第一段。C项的neighbors是对文中explore her new neighborhood的误解,因此C项为正确答案。首句提到“她就走出去探索新的社区了——独自一人,甚至没告诉我和我太太”,A项“她在没有成年人监护的情况下走出去”,without adult supervision是句中alone, without even telling...的同义替换,因此符合文意。B项“她知道小公园坐落在哪儿”与文中的she had discovered the little park around the corner意思一致。D项“她比作者对于周围的环境知道得更多”与文中的teach us things we didn"t know意思一致。
单选题 Different from American kids, German kids ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 细节题
Different, American kids, German kids
根据题干关键词定位到第二段。倒数第二句提到“然而,德国人通常更愿意接受让孩子们面对一些风险”,A项中的allowed, be faced with some risks是句中accepting,letting children take some risks的同义替换,故A项为正确答案。B项“(德国儿童)大约10%的闲暇时间是在家中度过的”与原文不符。C项“(德国儿童)移居到美国后将被过分地保护”和D项“(德国儿童)比其他任何发达国家的儿童都更加自立”原文没有提及。
单选题 According to Peter Gray, overprotection may lead to ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 推断题
Peter Gray, overprotection, lead to
根据题干关键词定位到第三段。彼得·格雷观点中的increases, the chance, suffer from与题干中的lead to表意一致,而文中的anxiety“焦虑”,depression“抑郁”都属于精神障碍,故B项是二者最准确的上义词,为正确答案。A项“潜在的风险”,C项“青春期的叛逆”和D项“情感问题”均太宽泛,不如B项概括准确,故排除。
单选题 The author"s attitude towards loosening the control over kids is ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 态度题
The author"s attitude, loosening the control over kids
根据题干关键词定位到第四、五段。第四段结尾作者指出“让孩子对自己的生活有更多控制权,他们就会对自己的能力有更多信心”,并结合第五段的It is hard for parents to balance...和But后的内容,可以推断出对于放松对儿童的控制,作者是持支持态度的,故D项为正确答案。A项“自信的”,B项“客观的”和C项“批判的”均不符合文意,故排除。
单选题 The most appropriate title for this text would be ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 主旨题
appropiriate title
文章第一段作者讲了自己女儿独自一人熟悉新社区的一段故事。第二段首句承上启下,并指出美国家长和德国家长在监护儿童时完全不同的态度和方式,当然作者作为德国家长,采取的是“散养”的方式。第三段通过波士顿学院研究教授彼得·格雷的观点,进一步指出过分地控制儿童对其不利的一面。第四段重申自己的观点“让孩子对自己的生活有更多控制权,他们就会对自己的能力有更多信心”。第五段提到在“保护孩子”和“让孩子自立”上,很难取舍,但还是希望家长们认真考虑得与失。综上所述,A项“家长散养孩子的案例”为正确答案,其他三项均偏离了主题,故排除。