Parents continuously discuss about how to get their children stronger and tougher, but whatever they do, it’s not working. Cases of anxiety disorders and depression are rising rapidly among teenagers. What are they doing wrong?
The word “antifragile” is invented and used to describe a small but very important class of systems that gain from shocks, challenges, and disorder. The immune (免疫的) system is one of them: it requires exposure to certain kinds of bacteria and potential allergens (过敏原) in childhood in order to develop to its full ability.
Children’s social and emotional abilities areas anti fragile as their immune systems. If parents over protect kids and keep them “safe” from unpleasant social situations and negative emotions, parents deprive (剥夺) them of the challenges and opportunities for skill-building they need to grow strong. Such children are likely to suffer more when exposed later to other unpleasant but ordinary life events, such as teasing and social rejection. It’s not the kids’ fault. Outdoor play and independent mobility went down; screen time and adult-monitored activities went up.
Yet free play in which kids workout their own rules of engagement, take small risks, and learn to master small dangers turns out to be vital for the development of adult social and even physical competence. Depriving them of free play prevents their social-emotional growth. Norwegian play researchers Ellen and Leif warned: “We may observe an increased anxiety or mental disorders in society if children are forbidden from participating in age-adequate risky play.”
They wrote those words in 2011. Over the following few years, their prediction came true. Kids born after 1994 are suffering from much higher rates of anxiety disorders and depression than did the previous generation. Besides, there is also arise in the rate at which teenage girls are admitted to hospital for deliberately harming themselves.
What can parents do to change these trends? How can parents raise kids strong enough to handle the ordinary and extraordinary challenges of life? Parents can’t guarantee that giving primary schoolchildren more independence today will bring down the rate of teenage suicide tomorrow. The links between childhood over protection and teenage mental illness are suggestive but not clear-cut. Yet there are good reasons to suspect that by depriving kids natural anti fragile of the wide range of experiences they need to become strong, parents are systematically preventing their growth. parents should let go—and let them grow.
1. Parents over protect children, because .| A．children are not independent enough |
| B．they want to keep children from being teased |
| C．they are concerned about their children’s safety |
| D．parent-monitored activities area must |
| A．To stress its importance. | B．To analyze the cause of anxiety. |
| C．To question the latest discovery. | D．To help understand a new word. |
| A．Stop trying to perfect your child. |
| B．Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child. |
| C．While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about. |
| D．It takes great courage to raise children. |
| A．reduce children’s risky behavior | B．strengthen children’s friendship |
| C．promote children’s toughness | D．develop children’s leadership skills |
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【推荐1】A new study of 8,000 young people in the journal of Health and Social Behavior shows that although love can make adults live healthily and happily，it is a bad thing for young people. Puppy love（早恋）may bring stress for young people and can lead to depression. The study shows that girls become more depressed than boys, and younger girls are the worst of all.
The possible reason for the connection between love and higher risk of depression for girls is “loss of self”. According to the study, even though boys would say “lose themselves in a romantic relationship”, this “loss of self” is much more likely to lead to depression when it happens to girls. Young girls who have romantic relationships usually like hiding their feelings and opinions. They won’t tell that to their parents.
Dr Marianm Kaufman, an expert on young people problems, says 15% to 20% young people will have depression during their growing. Trying romance often causes the depression. She advises kids not to jump into romance too early. During growing up, it is important for young people to build strong friendships and a strong sense of self. She also suggests the parents should encourage their kids to keep close to their friends, attend more interesting school activities and spend enough time with family.
Parents should watch for signs of depression—eating or mood changes—and if they see signs from their daughters or sons，they need to give help. The good news is that the connection between romance and depression seems to become weak with age. Love will always make us feel young, but only maturity(成熟) gives us a chance to avoid its bad side effects.
1. What’s the main idea of the passage?| A．Romance is a two-edged sword for adults. |
| B．Parents should forbid their children’s love. |
| C．Puppy love may bring young people depression. |
| D．Romance is good for young people. |
| A．Young people who have a strong sense of self. |
| B．Young boys whose parents watch for their behavior. |
| C．Careless parents whose children are deep in love. |
| D．Young girls who always hide their feelings and opinions. |
| A．Lacking love can lead young people to grow up more quickly. |
| B．The older a woman is, the less likely she seems to lose herself in romance. |
| C．Parents should help their children to be aware of the signs of depression. |
| D．Early love makes young people keep close to their friends and parents. |
| A．Confused | B．Disinterested |
| C．Disapproving | D．Scared |
【推荐2】As kids’ behaviour reaches crisis points after the pandemic, many schools are facing pressure from critics to rethink their approaches to discipline.
Approaches such as “restorative justice” were adopted widely in recent decades as educators updated the policies that cut off students’ access to learning, such as suspensions and expulsions (停学和开除). But more students have been acting out, and some school systems have faced questions from teachers, parents and lawmakers about whether a gentle approach can effectively solve problems that disrupt (扰乱) classrooms.
According to federal data, instances of misbehavior have been increasing since students returned to classrooms from the pandemic. A National Center for Education Statistics survey found 56% of respondents said the pandemic led to increased classroom disruptions from students’ misbehavior and 48%said it led to more acts of disrespect toward teachers and staff.
Rachel Perera studies education at the Brookings Institution. “There’s a lot of pressure on schools right now,” she said. “Schools also say they don’t have the resources to address more behavioral problems, and I worry that that will cause schools to fall back on old practices that are not effective in terms of supporting students in the way they need.”
Using restorative justice does not mean a school cannot remove a disruptive student from the classroom, said Thalia González, a professor at the UC College of the Law. But unlike other forms of discipline, restorative practices aim to deal with the root cause of students’ behavior and reintegrated them into classroom.
“That’s the problem with punitive discipline such as suspensions and expulsions,” González said. “You get removed and then you just come back. There’s nothing done to reintegrate into the community and rebuild the climate, the sense of safety, all the things that we know are so important to young people learning.”
1. What do we learn about “restorative justice” according to Paragraph 2?| A．It cuts off students’ access to learning. |
| B．It’s favored by both teachers and parents. |
| C．It’s less serious than suspensions and expulsions. |
| D．It’s more effective than suspensions and expulsions. |
| A．An increase in students’ misbehavior. | B．Ways to deal with students’ misbehavior. |
| C．An improvement on students’ performance. | D．Resources to address behavioral problems. |
| A．Negative. | B．Doubtful. | C．Confused. | D．Supportive. |
| A．Why are schools relying on restorative justice? |
| B．Is restorative justice an effective problem-solving approach? |
| C．How do schools make use of restorative justice? |
| D．What sets restorative justice apart from other discipline methods? |
| FEEDING AMERICA: BY THE NUMBERS* | ||
| 41, 200, 000 AMERICANS ARE FOOD INSECURE (Meaning they don’t know when and how they’ll get their next meal) | WANT TO DOSOMETHING? One way to stem the tide of hunger is via neighborhood food banks. They need three things: money, your time, and food. If you plan on donating food, here are the items food banks need most： ●Applesauce ●Boxed meals ●Canned chicken ●Canned chili ●Canned fish(tuna, salmon) ●Cooking oils ●Crackers ●Dried herbs and spices ●Nuts ●Peanut butter ●Whole-grain cereal (Note: Avoid items with glass packaging because they can be broken in transport. Pop-top ans are a plus—no opener needed.) | |
| 13 MILLION AMERICAN CHILDERN FACE HUNGER—THAT’S 1 IN 6 KIDS | 1.5 MILLION Veterans receive food stamps | |
| 27% of households with incomes Above the federal poverty level Are food insecure | ||
| 18.7% Of Mississippians are food Insecure (Highest rate of all states) | 5.4 MILLION Senior citizens currently face food insecurity in America. Lack of transportation, functional limitations, and health problems are major factors. | |
| 8.7% Of Hawaiians are food Insecure (Lowest rate of all states) | ||
| ＄1 donated to Feeding America will buy 10 meals for people facing hunger in America. | ||
| *Trusted Media Brands—Readers’ Digest’s parent company—has become an official media partner of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief charity. See how you can help our efforts at feedingamerica.com | ||
| A．Those Americans who live above the poverty line won’t go hungry. |
| B．13 million American children are food insecure for lack of transportation. |
| C．Among all the states in the USA, food insecurity in Mississippi is severest. |
| D．Neighborhood banks have no additional requirements for food packaging. |
| A．To warn readers against dangers of insecure food. |
| B．To urge readers to help the poor out of poverty. |
| C．To inform readers of the severe food shortage in America. |
| D．To advocate readers contributing to food relief in America. |
【推荐1】Helping others is not only good for them but a good thing to do. It also makes us happier and healthier too. Giving also connects us to others, creating stronger communities and helping to build a happier society for everyone. So if you want to feel good, do good!
Doing things for others-whether small, unplanned acts or regular volunteering—is a powerful way to increase our own happiness as well of those around us. The people we help may be strangers, family, friends, colleagues or neighbors. They can be old or young, nearby or far away.
Giving isn’t just about money, so you don’t need to be rich. Giving to others can be as simple as a single kind word, smile or a thoughtful gesture. It can include giving time, energy, care, skills, thought or attention. Sometimes these mean as much, if not more, than financial gifts.
Scientific studies show that helping others boosts happiness. It increases life satisfaction, provides a sense of meaning, increases feelings of ability, improves our mood and reduces stress. It can help to take our minds off our own troubles too.
Kindness towards others is the glue which connects individual happiness with wider community and social wellbeing. Giving to others helps us connect with people and meets one of our basic human needs-relatedness.
Kindness seems to be contagious (传染性的). When we see someone do something kind or thoughtful, or we are on the receiving end of kindness, it inspires us to be kinder ourselves. In this way, kindness spreads from one person to the next, influencing the behavior of people who never saw the original act. Kindness really is the key to creating a happier, more trusting local community.
1. Why can giving help to build a happier society?| A．It can bring confidence. | B．It can connect us to others. |
| C．It can make us healthy. | D．It can make us rich. |
| A．Helping others makes our trouble disappear forever. |
| B．We feel more content with life by helping others. |
| C．Helping others removes a sense of meaning. |
| D．We feel no stress by helping others. |
| A．Kindness. | B．Health. | C．Happiness. | D．Wealth. |
| A．Helping others is good for ourselves. | B．We should learn to give. |
| C．Helping others matters. | D．Kindness is a good virtue. |
【推荐2】Using too much water or throwing rubbish into our rivers are clear ways that humans can put our water supply in danger, but we also affect our water supply in less obvious ways. You may wonder how paving (铺砌) a road can lead to less useable fresh water. A major part of the water we use every day is groundwater. Groundwater does not come from lakes or rivers. It comes from underground. The more roads and parking lots we pave, the less water can flow into the ground to become groundwater.
Human activity is not responsible for all water shortages (短缺). Drier climates are of course more likely to have droughts (干旱) than areas with more rainfall, but in any case, good management can help to make sure there is enough water to meet our basic needs.
Thinking about the way we use water every day can make a big difference, too. In the United States, a family of four can use 1.5 tons of water a day! This shows how much we depend on water to live, but there’s a lot we can do to lower the number.
You can take steps to save water in your home. To start with, use the same glass for your drinking water all day. Wash it only once a day. Run your dishwasher (洗碗机) only when it is full. Help your parents fix any leaks (漏洞) in your home. You can even help to keep our water supply clean by recycling (回收) batteries instead of throwing them away.
1. What can be inferred from the text?| A．All water shortages are due to human behavior. |
| B．It takes a lot of effort to meet our water needs. |
| C．There is much we can do to reduce family size. |
| D．The average family in America makes good use of water. |
| A．suggest what we do to save water at home |
| B．tell us how to run a dishwasher |
| C．prove what drinking glass is best for us |
| D．show us how to fix leaks at home |
| A．why paving roads reduces our water |
| B．how much we depend on water to live |
| C．why droughts occur more in dry climates |
| D．how human activity affects our water supply |
【推荐3】If you are reading this, you were probably born in the 2000s. The oh-ohs. The 21st century. That would make you young, creative, connected, global, and no doubt smart. Maybe good-looking, too. Right? But what do other people think about your generation?
Some adults worry that you're more interested in the screen in front of you than the world around you. They think of you as the “face-down generation” because you use your phone so much and they wonder how you will deal with school, friends, and family. Are today's teenagers too busy texting and taking selfies to become successful in real life -or “TRI”, as you would say?
Other adults worry that today's youth are spoilt and don't want to face the challenges of adult life. Many children born in the 1990s and 2000s were raised by “helicopter parents”, who were always there to guide and help their children with a busy schedule filled with homework and after-class activities such as dancing, drawing, or sports. With parents who do everything for them, today's youth seem to prefer to live like teenagers even when they are in their 20s or 30s.
With these taken into account, does the face -down generation need a warning? Well, probably not.The fact is that many of today's teenagers are better educated and more creative than past generations. They seem to be enthusiastic and willing to be become leaders. More young people than ever volunteer to help their communities. There are also brave young people such as Malala Yousafzai, the teenager who won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for pushing girls' rights to go to school.
So if you're one of the oh-ohs, there are reasons to be hopeful about the future. Things are looking up for the face down generation. Chances are that you will do GR8 (great) and LOL (laugh out loud).
1. Which of the following words cannot be used to describe the oh-ohs?| A．Creative. | B．Caring. | C．Ignorant. | D．Intelligent. |
| A．parents who are rich and travel by helicopter. |
| B．parents who always watch over their children. |
| C．parents who have a very busy schedule. |
| D．parents who only turn up when necessary. |
| A．The writer is a member of the face down generation. |
| B．The writer is optimistic about the future of the oh-ohs. |
| C．The oh-ohs are more good-looking than their parents. |
| D．The oh-ohs care about nothing other than their phones. |
