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  3. Everyone remembers the whitewashing scene in The Adventures of Tom Sawye

Everyone remembers the whitewashing scene in The Adventures of Tom Sawye

游客2023-08-08  22
问题         Everyone remembers the whitewashing scene in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. But how many recall the scene that precedes it? Having escaped from Aunt Polly, Tom is teaching himself to whistle when he spies a "newcomer" in his village—a newcomer with "a citified air". They quarrel and wrestle in the dirt. Tom wins the battle but returns home late and is thus commanded to whitewash the famous fence.
        After this incident, the reader’s sympathies are meant to lie with Tom. But imagine how a boy like Tom Sawyer would be regarded today. As far as I can tell, that fight is not just "inappropriate behavior", to use current educational terminology (术语), but is also one of the many symptoms of "oppositional defiant disorder" (ODD), a condition that Tom manifests throughout the book. And Tom is not merely ODD: He clearly has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well, judging by his inability to concentrate in school.
        In fact, Tom manifests many disturbing behaviors. He blames his half-brother for his poor decisions, demonstrating an inability to take responsibility for his actions. He provokes his peers, often using aggression. He deliberately ignores rules and demonstrates defiance toward adults. He is frequently dishonest, at one point even pretending to be dead. Worst of all, he skips school—behavior that might, in our time, lead him to be diagnosed with conduct disorder.
        I am not being entirely sarcastic here: I have reread "Tom Sawyer" several times in recent years, precisely because Twain draws such fascinating portraits of children whose behavior is familiar, even if we now describe it differently. As a mother of boys, I find this weirdly reassuring: Although ADHD and ODD are often dismissed as recently "invented" disorders, they describe personality types and traits that have always existed. A certain kind of boy has always had trouble paying attention in school.
        But if the behavior or actions of the children and the parents are familiar, the society surrounding them is not. Tom Sawyer turns out fine in the end. In 19th-century Missouri, there were still many opportunities for impulsive kids who were bored and fidgety (坐立不安的) in school: The very qualities that made him so tiresome—curiosity, hyperactivity, recklessness—are precisely the ones that get him the girl, win him the treasure and make him a hero.
        Nothing like that is available to children who don’t fit in today. Instead of striking out into the wilderness, they get sent to psychologists and prescribed medication—if they are lucky enough to have parents who can afford that sort of thing. Every effort will be made to help them pay attention, listen to the teacher, stop picking fights in the playground. Nowadays, there aren’t any other options. [br] What may happen to a kid like Tom Sawyer in contemporary society?
选项 A、He may have many opportunities to achieve something.
B、He may turn out quite well with no problematic behavior.
C、He may get sent to psychologists and prescribed medication.
D、He may change the notion of many adults about children.
答案 C
解析 细节辨认题。定位段指出，虽然汤姆·索亚在书中的结局非常圆满，但现在的孩子显然不会拥有这样的待遇，他们不能出去闯荡世界，而会被父母送到心理医生那里接受诊疗并服药。因此，答案为C。
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