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
confirmed my growing belief that children are changing. As far as I can
remember, my friends and I didn’t find out we were “depressed”, that is, in low
sprits, until we were in high school.
Undoubtedly a change in children has
increased steadily in recent years. Children don’t seem childlike anymore.
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 status. 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（揭示）machine has been installed in 98 percent of American homes. It is
called television. Television passes information 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 practiced. Children must read simple books before
they can read complex materials.
1.According to the author, feeling
depressed is________.
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A．a sure sign of a mental problem in a child
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B．a mental state present in all humans, including children
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C．something that cannot be avoided in children’s mental development
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D．something hardly to be expected in a young child
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2.Traditionally, a child is supposed to
learn about the adult world________.
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A．through connection with society
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B．gradually and under guidance
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C．naturally without being taught
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D．through watching television
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3.According to the author, that today’s
children seem adultlike results from ________.
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A．the widespread influence of television
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B．the poor arrangement of teaching content
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C．the fast pace of human scientific development
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D．the rising standard of living
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4.What does the author think of
communication through print for children?
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A．It enables children to gain more social information.
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B．It develops children’s interest in reading and writing.
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C．It helps children to read and write well.
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D．It can control what children are to learn.
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5.What does the author think of the change
in today’s children?
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A．He feels their adultlike behavior is so funny
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B．He thinks the change worthy of note.
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C．He considers it a rapid development.
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D．He seems to be upset about it.
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