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  3. Passage Three (1) Despite the temptation for parents to say yes to their

Passage Three (1) Despite the temptation for parents to say yes to their

游客2024-11-03  10
问题     Passage Three
    (1) Despite the temptation for parents to say yes to their children’s wishes,  research shows there’s an insidious side to chasing after the newest thing others have. It fosters a sense of deficiency that can never be fully satisfied. First they want the doll, then all of the accessories—and of course the four-story Barbie mansion.
    (2)  And so I’ve taken on the work of saying no sometimes. At first, not surprisingly, my daughters, aged 4 and 9, revolted. They called me a bad father and I got plenty of mean looks. But over time, they realized the fun that comes from a no. Now my daughters pretend that their Elsa doll plays with a package of Shopkins, giving both toys a second, and better, life.
    (3)  It turns out that saying no pays off far beyond avoiding raising spoiled kids. When we always yield to our children’s wants, we rob them of the opportunity to find solutions by adapting what they already have. Kids who learn from denial realize at an early age that they won’t always have the perfect tool for every job. They might not know something, have something, or be something. But that’s not the end of pursuing goals—it’s the beginning of activating their resourcefulness to find another way.
    (4)  Youngsters are naturally resourceful. Give toddlers a frying pan and all sorts of uses come to their minds. As adults, we’re stuck using it to make a stir-fry. Many years of chasing after things we don’t need erodes our own ability to make more out of what we already have. It also sets a bad example for our kids.
    (5)  In one study, researchers asked elementary school children to help Bobo the Bear, a stuffed animal, reach his toy lion using some materials: building blocks, a pencil, an eraser, a ball, a magnet, a toy car and a wooden box.
    (6)  As children grow older, their brains develop in ways that should make it easier for them to solve this type of problem. Indeed, the oldest children in the study (6-and 7-year-olds) reached the correct solution (i. e. , using the wooden box to prop up the building blocks) faster, on average, than the younger participants, who were 5.
    (7)  But there was one condition in the experiment when the younger children ended up outperforming the older kids. And it had nothing to do with innate talents or artistic tendencies.
    (8)  The researchers made a subtle change in how they displayed the materials. Instead of laying them all out on the table, the researchers used the wooden box as a container to store everything else, such as the magnet and pencil. Upon seeing the box acting like a container, the older children struggled to expand it to anything beyond a container. For the younger children, the box remained just as flexible a resource as it was before.
    (9)  Each time we acquiesce to our kids’ latest request to buy something, we subtly condition them that their resources have limited uses. An occasional veto will compel them, in this case literally, to think outside the box.
    (10)  In American culture, abundance tends to be seen as a symbol of success, prompting some parents to say yes to things they can’t really afford. Witness the elaborate coming of age parties people across cultures and income levels throw for their children, even if it means going into debt.
    (11)  Many people who grow up without much recognize resourcefulness as an essential skill to get by. Those of us fortunate to live in relative abundance can benefit from occasionally experiencing scarcity. To be sure, I’m not suggesting denying children a generous supply of things they actually need like healthy meals, warm clothes and love. But plenty of wishes we cater to teach the wrong message. By having children occasionally experience scarcity, we can help them solve problems more effectively.
    (12)  In one study, a set of participants wrote a brief essay about a time in childhood when they didn’t have much, while a second set wrote about growing up having a lot. Afterward, the researchers presented both groups with a problem that required using Bubble Wrap in different ways. People assigned to the scarcity group had better solutions compared to the abundance group.
    (13)   Why might thinking about scarcity lead people to view their resources more expansively? With abundance, people treat resources as what they appear to be on the surface, utilizing them in traditional ways. But when embracing scarcity, they give themselves freedom to use resources in new ways. Imagine the upside of a weekend full of "nos"—it’s likely to be one occupied with new experiences-, invented games, a family dance party or time spent outdoors.
    (14)  This strategy has worked wonders for our family, and I received the ultimate compliment after my older daughter’s most recent birthday party. It was "the best day of my life," she gleefully told me. Instead of paying for a party, we had a scavenger hunt in a nearby park where we asked the kids to scour the area to find things they could use to solve challenges, like making containers to protect an egg from a 10-foot fall. There were three teams of kids, each with their unique combination from a variety of materials, including newspaper, cups, leftover Halloween jack-o’-lanterns, dirt, cotton and Bubble Wrap. The kids, naturally resourceful when we let them be, had a blast. And no eggs were broken.
    (15) All was good until we got home.   "Can I open my presents now?" my daughter asked.   "Yes," I hesitantly replied. I’ll have plenty of other chances down the road for my next no. [br] Which of the following statements about the first study is CORRECT?
选项 A、Pupils were required to touch the toy lion with given materials.
B、The speed of finding the right solution was invariably proportional to age.
C、Younger subjects prevailed over older ones because of natural gifts.
D、The ways of displaying the materials influenced older kids.
答案 D
解析 推断题。根据题干定位至第五段到第八段。第八段第一句提到研究人员对这些材料的摆放方式做了一个细微的调整，然后该段最后两句分别介绍了这对年长孩子和年幼孩子的影响：一看到盒子被用作容器，年长的孩子就难以将其用途扩大到容器以外的方面；而对于年幼的孩子而言，这个盒子和以前一样，依然是一种灵活的资源。由此可知，材料的摆放方式对年长的孩子造成了影响，但对年幼的孩子没有影响，[D]符合原文，故为答案。第五段提到在这项研究中，研究人员让小学生们使用所给材料帮助填充动物玩偶波波熊去够到他的玩具狮子，而不是让孩子们自己去碰触玩具狮子，[A]与原文表述不符，故排除；第六段第一句指出随着孩子们逐渐长大，他们的大脑会朝着使他们能更容易地解决此类问题的方向发育，第二句对此进行了具体说明，年龄最大的孩子比年龄较小的受试者找到正确解决方法的平均速度更快，这表明找到正确解决方法的速度与年龄威正比，但第七段第一句提到在该实验中，在一种情况下，年幼的孩子最终胜过了年长的孩子，由此可知，找到正确解决方法的速度并非一直与年龄成正比，而是存在例外情况，[B]过于绝对，故排除；第七段提到年幼的孩子最终胜过了年长的孩子，其原因和天赋或艺术倾向毫无关系，[C]与原文表述相反，故排除。
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