单选题 Passage Two
The book Love and Its Place in Nature observed that without love children tend to die. And Ashley Montagu noted British-born Child went so far as to say: "The child who has not been loved is biochemically, physiologically, and psychologically very different from the one whom has been loved. The former even grows differently from the latter."
The Toronto Star reported on a study that reached similar conclusions. It said: "Children raised without being regularly hugged, caressed or stroked...have abnormally high levels of stress hormones." Indeed, physical neglect during infancy "can have serious long-range effects on learning and memory."
These findings emphasize the need for the physical presence of parents. Otherwise, how can strong ties develop between parent and child? But sorry to say, even in affluent parts of the world, the tendency now is to try to supply a child's needs apart from his or her parents. Children are sent away to school, sent away to work, sent away to summer camp, and given money and sent away to places of recreation. Thrust out of the family nucleus, circling in orbit at a distance, as it were, millions of children naturally come to feel—if only subconsciously—neglected, unwanted, and unloved, surrounded by a hostile world of grown-ups. Such a prevailing feeling among children may be one reason why there are so many street children. Typical is young Micha, who said: "No one wanted me anymore." A nine-year-old boy similarly complained: "I would rather be our dog."
Child neglect is a form of mistreatment and it can lead to more sinister forms of mistreatment such as the physical mistreatment and sexual abuse of children.
Regardless of the form mistreatment takes, it sends children the message that they are unloved and unwanted. According to the German newspaper Die Welt, "more and more children are growing up to be social cripples." It adds: "Children lack the warmth of the nest. The emotional bonding between children and parents is becoming weaker, or it is never established in the first place. Such children feel neglected, and their desire for security goes unfulfilled."
Children who are denied their right to be wanted and loved may become bitter, taking out their frustrations on those who have neglected them or possibly on society as a whole. Fully a decade ago, a Canadian taskforce report signaled the need for immediate action lest a whole generation "who think society doesn't care about them be lost.
Unloved and unwanted youngsters may be tempted to run away from home to escape their problems, only to find bigger ones in cities plagued with crime, drugs, and immorality. In fact, police have estimated that 20,000 runaways under 16 were living in one U.S. metropolitan area alone. They were described as "the products of broken homes and brutality, often inflicted by alcoholic or drug-addicted parents. They take to the streets, use their bodies for survival and then, beaten by pimps and bereft of self-esteem, live in fear of reprisal if they attempt to escape the racket." Sad to say, despite honest efforts to change this deplorable situation, it still exists.
Children growing up in the circumstances described above develop into unbalanced adults, often being unable to rear children of their own properly. Being unwanted and unloved themselves, they later produce more of their own kind.
单选题 The main idea of the passage is that ______.
  • A. Children need to be loved biochemically
  • B. Children tend to die without love
  • C. lack of love can have serious effects on the growing-up of a child
  • D. neglected children will grow up into unbalanced adults
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】纵观全文可知,本文主要介绍了孩子在无爱的环境中成长可能有的一些严重后果。只有C符合题意。
单选题 It is implied in the passage that ______.
  • A. parents can establish close ties with their children by letting them be
  • B. children should receive education from their parents, not from schools
  • C. children should not be forced to stay away from the family nucleus
  • D. children should circle their parents in orbit at a distance
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】从第三段可知,“Thrust out of the family nucleus”和“circling in orbit at a distance”都会造成孩子对父母的失望及对社会的反感,放任自流并不能弥补父母对孩子的关爱,A项不对;B项文中没有提及;D项与文中意思相反,只有C项为正确答案。
单选题 The reason why so many children have grown up to be social cripples is that ______.
  • A. some parents could only get warmth from other street children
  • B. many children could only get warmth from other street children
  • C. many children wanted to revenge their parents in this way
  • D. many children wanted to break the bind between them and their parents
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】从文中第五段可知,“more and more children are growing up to be social cripples”是由于孩子缺乏家庭温暖,父母与孩子之间的情感纽带很脆弱,“or it is never established in the first place”,故根源是一开始家长就没有承担起抚育孩子的责任。
单选题 Children take to the streets ______.
  • A. to seek ways of survival
  • B. to save their self-esteem
  • C. to attempt to escape the racket
  • D. to escape from their miserable condition and parent abuse
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】从文中第七段可知,他们是为了脱离困境以及父母的虐待。故选D项。
单选题 Which of the following best defines the meaning of the word "bereft" in paragraph 7?
  • A. Destroyed
  • B. Deprived
  • C. Weakened
  • D. Thrown away
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】“bereft”用于“self-esteem”之前,是指被剥夺了自尊,故B项为正确答案。