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
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?