Question

About six years ago I was eating lunch in a restaurant in New York City when a woman and a young boy sat down at the next table. I couldn’t help overhearing parts of their conversation. At one point the woman asked, “So, how have you been?” And the boy who could not have been more than seven or eight years old replied, “Frankly, I’ve been feeling a little depressed lately.”

This incident stuck in my mind because it strengthened my growing belief that children are changing. As far as I can remember, my friends and I didn’t find out we were “depressed” until we were in high school.

The evidence of a change in children has increased steadily in recent years. Children don’t seem childlike any more. Children speak more like adults, dress more like adults and behave more like adults than they used to.

Whether this is good or bad is difficult to say, but it certainly is different. Childhood as it once was no longer exists. Why?

Human development is based not only on born biological states, but also on patterns of access to social knowledge. Movement from one social role to another usually involves learning the secrets of the new situation. Children have always been taught adult secrets, but slowly and in stages: traditionally, we tell sixth graders things we keep hidden from fifth graders.

In the last 30 years, however, a secret-revelation machine has been fixed in 98 percent of American homes. It is called television. Television passes information, indiscriminately, to all viewers alike, whether they are children or adults. Unable to resist the temptation, many children turn their attention from printed texts to the less challenging, more vivid moving pictures.

Communication through print, as a matter of fact, allows for a great deal of control over the social information to which children have access. Reading and writing involve a complex code of symbols that must be memorized and practised. Children must read simple books before they can read complex materials.

1.Traditionally, a child is supposed to learn about the adult world _________ .

A. through touch with society

B. gradually and under guidance

C. naturally and by biological instinct

D. through exposure to social information

2.In the author’s opinion, the phenomenon that today’s children seem adult like is caused by _____.

A. the widespread influence of television

B. the poor arrangement of teaching content

C. the fast step of human intellectual development

D. the constantly rising standard of living

3.Why is the author in favor of communication through print for children?

A. It enables children to gain more social information.

B. It develops children’s interest in reading and writing.

C. It helps children to memorize and practise more.

D. It can control what children are to learn.

4.What does the author think of the change in today’s children?

A. He feels amused by the children’s adultlike behavior.

B. He thinks it is a phenomenon worthy of note.

C. He considers it a positive development.

D. He seems to be upset about it.

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.A

3.D

4.B

【解析】

試題分析：文章主要講的是兒童早熟的問題。

1.推理判斷題。根據(jù)“Children have always been taught adult secrets, but slowly and in stages: traditionally, we tell sixth graders things we keep hidden from fifth graders.”可知，討論的是傳統(tǒng)方式的學習途徑。been taught受教，應該說相當于B項中的under guidances；in stages就是按階段，循序漸進，這個意思與B中的gradually一樣。故選B。

2.細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)“many children turn their attention from printed texts to moving pictures,”孩子們把注意力從書本轉(zhuǎn)向了電視。上一段提到按照傳統(tǒng)學習方式，孩子們就是傳統(tǒng)的孩子，而以電視為主體的方式，必然造成兒童發(fā)生某種變化，在文章中這種變化就是成人化。故選A。

3.細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)“Communication through print, as a matter of fact, allows for a great deal of control over the social information to which children have access.”是說通過印刷媒介交流兒童能夠接觸到的信息。故選D。

4.觀點態(tài)度題。根據(jù)“Children must read simple books before they can read complex materials”可知，用must這樣強烈肯定色彩的詞，說明了對孩子們身上發(fā)生的變化應該值得注意。故選B。

考點：社會現(xiàn)象類閱讀