Question

Amy Chua may well be very nuts. What kind of a mother will drag her then 7-year-old daughter’s dollhouse out to the car and tell her that it is going to be donated if the poor kid doesn’t master a difficult piano composition by the next day? What kind of a mother will inform her daughter that she is nothing but “garbage”? And what kind of mother will believe, as Chua tells readers, that “an A- is not always a good grade”? The only activities her children should be permitted to do are those in which they can eventually win a medal, which must be gold.

What kind of a mother she is? Why, a mother who is raising her kids in the typical Chinese way, rather than the Western way. In her new book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Chua tells her adventures in Chinese parenting, and — so nuts as she may be — she is also mesmerizing (迷惑的). Chua’s voice is that of a happy, knowledgeable serial killer — think Hannibal Lecter — who’s explaining how he’s going to cut his next victim, as though it’s the most self-evidently normal behavior.

There is another attractive aspect of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. There are methods to Chua’s madness, enough method to stir up self-doubt in those readers who support the more educating parenting styles. It is trusted that Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is going to be a book club and parenting blog phenomenon; there will be fevered debate over Chua’s tough love strategies, which include unchangeable bans on such Western indulgences (纵容) as sleepovers, play dates, and any after class activities except practicing musical instruments, which must be limited between the violin or the piano.

The back story to Chua’s book is this — she is the daughter of a couple of Chinese immigrants and is now a professor at Yale Law School and the author of two best-selling “big-think” books on “free-market democracy” and “the fall of empires”. When Chua married her husband, her fellow Yale law professor and a novelist Jed Rubenfeld, they agreed that their children would be brought up in “the Chinese way,” in which punishingly hard work, enforced by parents produces excellence; excellence, in turn, produces satisfaction. The success of this strategy is hard to debate. Their older daughter is a piano talent who played at Carnegie Hall when she was 14 or so. The second, a more rebellious (叛逆的) daughter, Lulu, is a gifted violinist. Chua rode the girls hard, making sure they practiced at least three hours a day even on vacations, when she would call ahead to arrange access to practice in hotel lobby bars and basement storage rooms.

Chua also rarely refrained (抑制) from criticizing her daughters. She explains: Chinese parents can do things that would seem unimaginable to Westerners. Chinese mothers can say to their daughters, “Hey so fatty, lose some weight.” By contrast, Western parents have to tiptoe around the issue, talking in terms of "health" and never ever mentioning the f-word, and their kids still end up in treatment for eating disorders and negative self-image. ... Western parents are concerned about their children’s minds. Chinese parents aren’t. They assume strength, not weakness, and as a result they behave very differently.

1.The underlined word “nuts” in the first and second paragraphs most probably means _____.

A. intelligent      B. crazy

C. difficult       D. eager

2.Which of the following practices are tough love strategies EXCEPT _______.

A. Children must get a medal if they attend a competition

B. Children should practice piano even on holidays.

C. Children are indulged to sleepover, play dates, etc.

D. Children are called “garbage” or “fatty”

3.What’s the writer’s purpose of using the example of “weight problem”？

A. To show Chinese parents can do unimaginable things.

B. To make a comparison between Western and Chinese mothers.

C. To make us believe the western way of parenting is much better.

D. To show that Chinese mothers care more about their children.

4.From the passage we can learn that Chua’s way of parenting is _______.

A. widely acceptable       B. very traditional

C. quite controversial     D. out of date

5.Which is the main idea of the passage?

A. The Chinese way of parenting has its advantages.

B. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is a best seller.

C. The westerners are not good at raising children.

D. Tiger mothers raise their children in the Chinese way.

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.B

4.C

5.D

【解析】

试题分析：蔡美儿出一本新书叫我在美国做妈妈，书中讲述如何用中国式的教育方法来培育两个美国女儿成才，文章对此进行评论，认为她的教育方式很有争议性

1.B 猜测词意。根据第一段提到Amy Chua may well be very nuts. What kind of a mother will drag her then 7-year-old daughter’s dollhouse out to the car and tell her that it is going to be donated if the poor kid doesn’t master a difficult piano composition by the next day?蔡美儿简直是疯了，什么样的妈妈会把七岁的女儿拖到车子里，威胁孩子要是不在明天之内练好一首很难的钢琴曲就把这孩子捐出去，故选B项。

2.C 细节理解题。根据第三段提到there will be fevered debate over Chua’s tough love strategies, which include unchangeable bans on such Western indulgences (纵容) as sleepovers, play dates, and any after class activities except practicing musical instruments, which must be limited between the violin or the piano人们就她严厉的爱的教育方式展开激烈的讨论，这些教育方式包括严禁西方孩子惯常的彻底狂欢，玩伴等活动，严禁除练琴以外的任何课外活动，故选C项。

3.B 细节推断题。根据最后一段提到Western parents are concerned about their children’s minds. Chinese parents aren’t. They assume strength, not weakness, and as a result they behave very differently.把中西方对于减肥问题的不同看法来进行对比，故选B项。

4.C 细节理解题。根据第三段提到there will be fevered debate over Chua’s tough love strategies这引发了广泛的争论，故选C项。

5.D 主旨大意。蔡美儿出一本新书叫我在美国做妈妈，书中讲述如何用中国式的教育方法来培育两个美国女儿成才，文章对此进行评论，认为她的教育方式很有争议性，故选D项。

考点：日常生活类阅读。