单选题 School bullying has many parents worried, and not just those whose kids have been on the receiving end. A series of shocking incidents has made headlines and provoked outrage in communities across the country. In Columbus, Indiana, a 13-year-old was charged with felony intimidation after he held a knife against a fellow student"s throat in a classroom while the teacher"s back was turned. In Yorktown, Virginia, 16-year-old Christian Taylor took his own life shortly after his mother, Alise Williams, complained to high school officials that her son had suffered months of relentless bullying by classmates, including one student who she says told Christian to "just go ahead and commit suicide and get it over with."
Those cases have prompted parents and school officials to ask whether we"re just seeing the tip of the iceberg, since bullying often takes place off the radar screen of grown-ups. While overall incidents of school violence, such as assault and theft, have declined in the last decade, bullying is on the rise.
Indeed, researchers have found that kids are particularly sensitive to intimidation and emotional cruelty. It makes them feel more fearful and anxious than if they were the victims of theft or a physical attack. And the suffering goes far beyond momentary humiliation. They are more likely to be distracted from learning, get poorer grades and become victims of violent crime. They feel powerless, and lose faith in the ability of adults to help them.
Peer abuse has always existed at school, but the kinds of kids who are harassing others have changed. The stereotype of yesteryear—a physically intimidating, low-achieving, socially maladjusted loner—no longer applies. Instead, bullies these days are, often as not, popular kids and academic achievers. "They are alpha girls and quarterbacks and not necessarily kids struggling to gain a social foothold," says Elizabeth Englander, director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State College, which runs anti-bullying programs in K-12 schools. Girls are slightly more likely than boys to act out against others—not physically, but by using tactics like alienation and deliberate rumors calculated to inflict maximum psychological damage.
So what causes a student who is doing well to go out of his or her way to hurt another? For one, there"s the momentary rush kids get from being perceived as dominant in a group situation. But research suggests that the growing frequency and intensity of bullying may be the result of a troubling decline in social skills among adolescents. In a 2009 study, 75 percent of educators perceived a significant drop and 25 percent said they saw a slight decline.
Psychologists say that these changes may be connected to the way we"re raising our kids. In the last 20 years opportunities for preschoolers and elementary school kids to engage in free play with other children have pretty much evaporated. Instead, parents relentlessly cram their kids" schedules with an array of adult-led academic and sports enrichment activities.

单选题 In the first sentence "...those whose kids are on the receiving end" refers to ______.

单选题 Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

单选题 Bullying may lead to all of the following EXCEPT that ______.

单选题 Which of the following descriptions fits a typical present-day school bully?

单选题 The word "evaporated" in the last paragraph most likely means ______.