Disappointment is a natural human emotion that occurs after a failure. For our young children, this failure can look like not getting the toy they wanted, not being invited to a classmate’s birthday party or losing their favourite stuffed animal.
It is essential for children’s mental health, well-being and overall development that they experience how to deal with disappointment well. But this can be difficult for parents to handle, particularly around holidays that have grown to involve gift-giving and expectations.
North American culture often mistakenly links love and happiness with material goods such as toys; the Santa story promises magical wish fulfillment. This can cause conflict for parents when children do not get the “right” gift.
On holidays, there’s social and personal pressure to provide happiness and joy to children through material objects, which can be confused with providing the necessities. For parents who do not have the resources to provide the perfect or desired gift, this can cause additional stress, shame, guilt and fear around disappointment. Parents may feel as though they have let down their child and that they have impacted the child’s experience or memory of their “special day”.
This is especially true if the child has difficulty with or is learning to regulate emotions and expresses disappointment through tantrums (发怒) or sulking (生闷气). These behaviours can affect parents profoundly, often leading them to feel badly about themselves or that the child does not love them.
Changing our focus from giving rather than receiving can help our children develop and appreciate the strength in gratitude. Research has linked gratitude to significant health and wellness benefits such as improving self-esteem, improving sleep and developing empathy.
The other thing to know is that although disappointment feels awful, it is a part of life and is actually a positive and healthy emotion that’s central to children’s emotional, cognitive and social development throughout their lives.
1. Why is it difficult for parent to handle disappointment on Christmas?| A．It is connected with children’s overall development. |
| B．It is the custom to give gifts or show expectations. |
| C．Children are easy to have tantrums or sulking. |
| D．Children often expect too much of their parents. |
| A．Positive. | B．Concerned. | C．Interested. | D．Supportive. |
| A．It can avoid disappointment in life. |
| B．It can help children’s academic development. |
| C．It is a necessary part of one’s life. |
| D．lt helps children realize the benefits of being grateful. |
| A．What Christmas Can Teach Kids about Disappointment |
| B．How We Can Meet Our Children’s Expectations Best |
| C．What Harm Disappointment Does to Most Children |
| D．What Are the Rights to Give to Your Children on Christmas |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】During my first year in college, I was silent. I was too afraid of saying something wrong.
I declared a religion major as a sophomore and took a class from Barbara, a young theologian. My mind was split open by a range of new thinkers and writers and by the quality of Barbara’s questions, I finally had something to say and the energy to say it. I was a frequent visitor during Barbara’s office hours, a rocket of words. She listened and calmly responded, a perfect contrast to my feverish ramblings. I loved what she saw in me, which was a range of abilities I had never seen in myself. In the following years, our relationship gradually deepened, but I was always conscious of a teacher-student dynamic.
This changed fundamentally when I became a parent. I had my son in March 2010, and Barbara was one of the first to congratulate me. When, nine months later, my child was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease, a rare and always terminal illness with no treatment and no cure, she sent me a letter-handwritten on a white legal pad. For the next two and a half years, Barbara wrote me regular, sometimes weekly, letters, remarkable letters that are revealing, loving, and kind.
The letter written right before my son died, when he was three, was the most personal and perhaps the most profound. “I think he’s made you better by opening up the great fire of your love,” she wrote, “with his small but magnificent existence.” I have never in my life read a more deeply comforting sentence, one that spoke to my grandest hopes, my deepest fears, and the only faith that remains to me, which is a belief in chaos. Our love had bloomed and deepened from a guarded mutual respect to a richer, deeper friendship.
Mentors are meant to lead those in their charge into fresh understanding, help them sort and filter new experiences, assist in the project of making sense out of the chaos that is human life. Mentors observe and accompany the darkest despair, the wildest sorrow, and the most unexpected joy.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 2?| A．The author took the class because she excelled1 in theology. |
| B．Their relationship changed significantly beyond a teacher-student mode. |
| C．The author was a frequent visitor to Barbara’s home after working hours. |
| D．Barbara’s peaceful exterior was a contrast to the author’s overexcited talk. |
| A．The way Barbara treated her students. | B．The fact that the author kept silent in class. |
| C．The role of the author as a college student. | D．The relationship between Barbara and the author. |
| A．Barbara’s efforts to solve the problem. |
| B．Barbara’s sympathy shown in the letter. |
| C．The author’s in-depth understanding of Barbara. |
| D．Barbara’s congratulations on the birth of the author’s son. |
| A．Demanding and dedicated. | B．Responsible and reasonable. |
| C．Insightful and inspiring. | D．Aggressive and ambitious. |
【推荐2】My friends are often jealous of my good memory. When they were beating their brains to recall how many people attended John’s ninth birthday, I succeeded in reminding them of the details. I told them that Tom, Barbara, Tony and I did; that Mary brought a toy car as a gift, Tom brought a four-in-one game disc…; that John said after blowing out the candles his wish was to be a pilot when he grew up… When Bob, Jim and Elizabeth were quarrelling, faces flush with anger, about the name of the forest where they went camping, I stopped them by detailing to them on which date, which month, which year we visited which forest and ate what food for picnic…
Bob often says, “Lewis, if only I had a memory half as good as you!” Whenever hearing this, a voice shouted from the bottom of my heart, “How I wish God gave me a forgetfulness half as good as you!”
In fact, instead of being proud of my memory, I hate it; I’ve suffered a lot from it, for it is sometimes too good: I can remember everything I’ve experienced, including what I don’t want to remember; indeed, I do hope to forget something!
Barbara and I are best friends from the cradle. In fact, our relationship was already beyond friendship; it was that of lovers. But one day she left me for no reason except that I was too familiar to her to further our relationship. Over the next two months and a half, I couldn’t fall to sleep. While in bed wide awake, I warned myself, “You must forget her, otherwise you will get destroyed.” But my good memory failed me again and again — I could remember how beautiful it was when I first kissed her affectionately and then in turn received even more affectionate responses; I could remember every sweet word she had said to me…
1. The first paragraph is intended to describe ________.| A．how the writer’s friends were jealous of him |
| B．what a good memory the writer had |
| C．what happy childhood he shared with his friends |
| D．what an important part he played among his friends |
| A．for nothing | B．because she hated it that he kissed her |
| C．because their friendship broke | D．because she was tired of him |
| A．The writer and Barbara had a long-time friendship. |
| B．The writer, somehow, hated his good memory. |
| C．The writer was struggling to tear himself off the pain of losing love. |
| D．Tony’s wish was to be a pilot when he grew up. |
| A．he had got too good a memory | B．Barbara left for no reason |
| C．others were jealous of him | D．the sweet past was out of memory |
【推荐3】I live a SOHO life. I work at home and my company has closed several offices. Some companies that introduced home working didn't have much success. I don't think they should go back to making all their workers working in offices. Instead, it would be better to retrain their managers. Managers who deal with home workers have to be able to develop team spirit among home working people. They must be in regular communication with people in their teams, but not always be checking-up on them.
Simon
Talking with my coworkers at the office is enjoyable. However, most of the office talks are time-wasting and nothing to do with work. Sometimes it is very troublesome. I have worked at home for over 20 years. Every three months I have to return to my office for a meeting. I quite enjoy the time spent there. It's all good fun, but I am really surprised to see how much time people waste there. I haven't had great success in my job, but I've been at home to see my children grown up.
James
I used to hate working at an office. People stood behind me and talked loudly. I am a soft- ware developer and I have to focus on my work. I found I work much better at home where no one breaks my thinking. However, it's really important that you control yourself and carry on with your work no matter where you are.
Paul
Two years ago, I started working from home. At first I enjoyed being at home. I could eat when I wanted to and wear whatever I liked. However, after a bit I missed meeting with my coworkers. Now I have moved into an office and just do one or two days at home. I feel I work better because I am not in the same place all day. I think a bit of both is the best choice.
John
1. Who work both at home and in an office now? ______| A．John. | B．James. | C．Simon. | D．Paul. |
| A．go back to office working. |
| B．check on workers as often as possible. |
| C．encourage communication among home workers. |
| D．develop the managers' ability to build team spirit. |
| A．It allows him to follow his timetable. |
| B．It allows him to better center on his work. |
| C．It gives him more time to stay with his family. |
| D．It teaches him the importance of self-control. |
| A．Advantages of working at offices. | B．Disadvantages of working at home. |
| C．Opinions on home working. | D．Ways to improve office communication. |
Social scientists are, of course, extremely interested in these types of question. They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behaviors. There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from each other, and there is a great deal of debate between proponents of each theory. The argument is often conveniently referred to as nature vs. nurture.
Those who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological and genetic factors. That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics and behavior is central to this theory. Taken to an extreme, this theory maintains that our behavior is predetermined(注定)to such a great degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts(本能).
Proponents of the “nurture” theory, or, as they are often called, behaviorists, claim that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act. Behaviorists see humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings. Their view of the human being is quite mechanistic; they maintain that, like machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli (something that helps sb./ sth. to develop better and more quickly)as the basis of their behavior.
The social and political connections of these two theories are significant. In the United States, for example, blacks often score below whites on standardized intelligent test. This leads some “nature” proponents to conclude that blacks are genetically worse than whites. Behaviorists, in contrast, say that the differences in scores are due to the fact that blacks are often robbed of many of the educational and other environmental advantages that whites enjoy, and that, as a result ,they do not develop the same responses that whites do.
Neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior. In fact, it is quite likely that the key to our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes. That the argument will continue for a long time is certain.
1. The author is mainly concerned about solving the problem .
| A．why our personalities and behaviors differ |
| B．what makes different stages of intelligence |
| C．how social scientists form different theories |
| D．what causes the “nature/ nurture” argument |
| A．approaches | B．advocates |
| C．principles | D．characters |
| A．We are born with certain personalities and behaviors. |
| B．Environment has nothing to do with our personalities. |
| C．Abilities and characteristics are showed by behaviors. |
| D．Only extreme behaviors are determined by instincts. |
| A．They believe human beings are mechanical. |
| B．They compare our behaviors to the machines. |
| C．They suggest that we react to the environment as the machines do. |
| D．They agree that the mechanistic theory can be applied on us as well. |
【推荐2】Modern inventions have speeded up people’s lives amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour, aircraft cross the world inside a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boasts(吹嘘) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.
All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag: our bodies feel that they have been left behind in another time zone. Again, spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers, according to some scientists: too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.
However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing, or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.
There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestors faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.
1. What does the underlined words “the days” in Paragraph 3 refer to?| A．Simple life in the past. | B．Imaginary life. |
| C．Times of inventions. | D．Time for constant activity. |
| A．Objective. | B．Critical. |
| C．Optimistic. | D．Doubtful |
| A．Machinery and human beings. | B．The present and past times. |
| C．Imagination and inventions. | D．Modern technology and its influence. |
【推荐3】Personally, there is nothing I love more than asking “stupid” questions, especially the ones that have no right answers. I remember once asking some kids what time it was, at home, in Singapore, and finally on the Moon. After a long giggling silence, finally a shy girl ventured (试探地说) to say that it was “every time” followed by an energetic Einstein who shouted it was “no time”. Both kids shared that week’s Noble Prize, because no humans live in that distant world and time is a human construct.
As a matter of fact, we are all good at asking questions by nature, but sadly as we age, we get accustomed to the world around us and take things for granted. We became more results-oriented (注重结果的) and concentrate our efforts on success. If something is working, don’t fix it or worry about the cause; just relax and go with the flow. Conventional wisdom may work well, but that does not mean it is always right. Throughout history, it has been those who have questioned conventional wisdom and those who have challenged our common-sense notions of the world that have been the ones to have ushered in (开) the major advancements of human civilization.
In 500 BC, the ancient Greeks wondered whether the Earth was round because sailors on the sea had noticed that the farther south they went, the more different stars they saw in the sky. Why was the sky changing? Nearly 2,000 years later, the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei became interested in this question and ended up demonstrating the “crazy” concept of heliocentrism (日心说), in which the Sun lies at the center of the universe while the Earth revolves (旋转) around it at 30 kilometers per second. But if the Earth is spinning around so quickly, why aren’t we being thrown off of the surface of the planet? The answer to this question would not end up being revealed to us for another century.
People like routine, but past performance is no guarantee of future results. While those who challenge conventional wisdom tend to be subjected to abuse, the progress of humankind would have otherwise been impossible without these persistent people and their “stupid”questions.
1. What is the best title of this article?| A．Asking “stupid” questions. |
| B．Is conventional wisdom useless? |
| C．Some major advancements of human civilization |
| D．What caused them to ask conventional questions? |
| A．We lay too much emphasis on process. |
| B．We still refuse to relax and go with the flow. |
| C．We start to challenge common-sense notions of the world |
| D．We gradually lose the ability to question conventional wisdom. |
| A．An ancient Greek scientist living in 500 BC |
| B．Galileo Galilei living between 1564 and 1642. |
| C．Isaac Newton living between 1643 and 1727. |
| D．Albert Einstein living between 1879 and 1955. |
| A．By comparison and contrast. |
| B．By using supporting examples. |
| C．By using time and space order. |
| D．By generalization and definition |
【推荐1】A child can be molded (塑造) in the way that you want him or her to be.For giving the best education to the child，it is very important to teach him or her in a positive atmosphere.
To do this，first of all，educators need to establish a sense of trust for children.
If you really want to teach your kid these basic qualities，there are so many creative ways which might help you.
Parents can show them examples of enduring patience and introduce them to famous people.
| A．How can you teach patience lessons to a child? |
| B．Every parent dreams his child can practice a bit of patience. |
| C．It also reflects what a child is able to do and cannot yet do. |
| D．Following heroes' lifestyles could be an interesting method too. |
| E．It is difficult to teach a child how to have patience when he is young. |
| F．Children really like doing whatever they want to do without being instructed. |
| G．The best way to sow the seeds of patience in children is through their parents. |
Lately, there is a rising trend in families choosing to homeschool their child than send their child to a traditional educational institution. Let’s look at some of the benefits of homeschooling.
1. Flexible Schedule
Homeschooling enables a flexible schedule.
2. Individual Attention
With homeschooling, your child gets all the individual attention. For example, if your child is weak in maths, you could devote more time and energy to teaching maths. Your child’s homeschooling schedule can be adjusted for that. For example, if your child is better at science than at maths, simply devote more homeschooling hours to maths and cut back on science. With homeschooling, the choice is yours.
3. Family Activity
The schooling of the child can become an extended family activity. Examples are field trips and experiments. Plus, the child also receives more quality time with his/her parents.
4.
With homeschooling, the child does not need to prove his/her abilities to other children. Parents are able to plan the learning program according to his strengths and weakness. Parents can also change the curriculum to suit the learning style of the child.
| A．No peer pressure |
| B．Religion Learning |
| C．Traditional schools can’t do that. |
| D．There is more time for family bonding. |
| E．For example, the child needn’t wake up at 7 every morning. |
| F．Plus, it is quite impossible to provide individual attention to all students. |
| G．For example, some children learn better from reading while others need to write. |
【推荐3】The first thing that Valoy saw when she put on color-blind corrective glasses was green — the vibrancy (活力) of the grass and tree — and later, the brilliance of red in stop signs and flowers. Valoy says it’s unbelievable and she has struggled with certain topics, especially the painting class in school and she would even paint the ocean purple before that.
Valoy wasn’t diagnosed with red-green color blindness until the fourth grade. “For the past 17 years, I’ve lived in a ‘black and white movie’,” the recent Louis E. Dieruff High School graduate says. But not anymore. The transformative moment all started with a public speaking class Valoy took. After she made an informative speech about growing up with her color deficiency (缺陷), her teacher, Sandy Kile, was inspired to teach the class a more important life lesson.
Kile made a suggestion that the class should reach out to companies that produced corrective glasses to see if they would donate a pair to Valoy. While Kile encouraged Valoy to write a description of living in a world with mostly shades of grey and brown, her classmates wrote accompanying statements about why she needed the glasses. “I didn’t expect much for that,” Valoy says. “Professor Kile truly believed it was going to happen but we were not sure.”
It wasn’t so surprising when the first company turned down their request. Then, the class received reply from the founder of Pilestone Inc., offering Valoy and six other commumity members his glasses for free. “We started this business by trying to make some difference to people,” founder Ben Zhuang says.
Valoy is grateful to Kile and her classmates for their efforts. But Kile says that she is very glad the students have the chance to realize the significance of lending a hand to those in need, and that being able to aid Valoy in changing her life is something she will never forget the rest of her life.
1. Why is Valoy’s painting class mentioned?| A．To stress her serious attitude to study. | B．To stop people from having color blindness. |
| C．To support wearing collective glasses. | D．To give an example of her sufferings. |
| A．Satisfied. | B．Uncertain. | C．Negative. | D．Thankful. |
| A．She wasn’t the only one to get the glasses. |
| B．She only understood black and white movies. |
| C．She delivered a speech to call for donation. |
| D．She didn’t know her problem until she was 17. |
| A．The benefit of technology. | B．The power of friendship. |
| C．The value of offering help. | D．The magic of creativity. |
