Question

The more hours that young children spend in child care, the more likely they are to turn out aggressive and disobedient by the time they are in kindergarten, according to the largest study of child care and development ever conducted. Researchers said this correlation (相关性) held true regardless of whether the children came from rich or poor homes, were looked after by a relative or at a center, and whether they were girls or boys.

What is uncertain, however, is whether the child care actually causes the problem or whether children likely to turn out aggressive happen to be those who spend more hours in child care. It also remains unclear whether reducing the amount of time in child care will reduce the risk that a child will turn into a mean person. What’s more, quality child care is associated with increased skills in intellectual ability such as language and memory, leading some academics to suggest that child care turns out children who are “smart and naughty”.

The government-sponsored research, which has tracked more than 1,300 children at 10 sites across the country since 1991, is bound to cause the debate over child care again: How should people balance work and family? And how should parents, especially mothers. Resolve the demands that are placed on them to be both breadwinners and supermoms?

That debate was already on display at a news briefing yesterday, where researchers themselves had different opinions about the data and its implications (含义). “There is a constant relationship between time in care and problem behavior, especially those involving aggression and behavior,” said Jay Belsky of Birkbeck College in London, one of the lead investigators of the study who has previously annoyed women’s groups because of his criticisms of child care. “On behalf of fathers or mothers?” interrupted Sarah Friedman, a developmental psychologist at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and one of the other lead scientists on the study. “On behalf of parents and families,” responded Belsky.

“NICHD is not willing to get into policy recommendations.” said Friedman, contradicting her colleague. “There are other possibilities that can be entertained. Yes it is a quick solution—more hours in child care is associated with more problems. The easy solution is to cut the number of hours but that may have implications for the family that may not be beneficial for the development of the children in terms of economics.” In an interview after the briefing, Friedman said that asking parents to work fewer hours and spend more time with their children usually meant a loss of family income, which adversely(不利地) affects children.

Scientists said that the study was highly reliable. But the researchers said they had no idea whether the behavioral difficulties persisted as the children moved to higher grades.

1.Children who spend more time in quality child care will ________.

A. develop greater ability in language    B. be easy to manage and less naughty

C. possess great risk-taking spirit    D. be greedy and mean to their classmates

2.What is still unknown about higher level of aggressiveness in kindergarten children?

A. Whether higher level of aggressiveness can be avoided with longer child care.

B. Where longer child care equally affects children from different families.

C. Whether aggressiveness is a direct result of longer child care.

D. Whether longer child care improves intellectual ability in children.

3.In the fifth paragraph the word “it” probably means ________.

A. NICHD is unwilling to give parents recommendations

B. NICHD is willing to give policy advice concerning child care

C. the number of hours in child care should be reduced significantly

D. parents should discipline the behavior of their children more strictly

4.According to Friedman, Cutting the number of hours in child care ________.

A. may prevent families from having the necessary financial sources

B. will make families unable to enjoy much of the social benefits

C. will result in subsequent behavioral difficulties in children

D. should be accompanied with the improvement in the quality of child care

Answer

1.A

2.C

3.C

4.A

【解析】调查显示，儿童早期在托管所呆的时间越长，对孩子的负面影响越大。但这里面很多细节之间的相互关联关系还需进一步的研究。

1.细节理解题。题干：在优质托管所呆更长时间的孩子们会…根据文章中第二段的内容What’s more, quality child care is associated with increased skills in intellectual ability such as language and memory(更重要的是，优质的儿童护理与智力、语言和记忆等智力技能的提高相关)，故A项（发展语言方面更强的能力。）正确，故选A。

2.推理判断题。根据第二段内容对研究不确定内容的表述What is uncertain, however, is whether the child care actually causes the problem or whether children likely to turn out aggressive happen to be those who spend more hours in child care. It also remains unclear whether reducing the amount of time in child care will reduce the risk that a child will turn into a mean person.（不确定的是，是否托管所真能导致这些问题，以及是否可能有攻击性的孩子刚好是那些在托管所里呆时间长的孩子。也不清楚减少孩子在托管所的时间是否会减少孩子变成低劣的人的危险。）可知，C项（是否攻击性是长时间呆在托管所的直接结果。）和上文表述一致，故选C。

3.词义猜测题。根据上文Jay Belsky的观点“There is a constant relationship between time in care and problem behavior, especially those involving aggression and behavior,”（托管时间和问题行为有不间断的联系，特别是涉及到攻击性以及问题行为。）Sarah Friedman陈述的观点中说：也有其他需要考虑的可能性。是的，这是一个快速的解决方法，托管更长时间和更多的问题有联系，简单的方法就是减少孩子托管的时间。故这里的it指的是“托管时间应该减少”，故选C。

4.细节理解题。题干：根据Friedman，减少儿童托管的时间 …。根据Friedman 的观点The easy solution is to cut the number of hours but that may have implications for the family that may not be beneficial for the development of the children in terms of economics.（简单的方法是减少托管时间，但是那可能暗示着在经济方面对孩子的发展不利的家庭），故A项（可能阻止一些家庭必要的经济来源。）与文章内容一致，选A.

【名师点睛】

关于细节理解题

用细节定位法：细节理解题属于直接解答性问题，是阅读理解题中最简单的一种，多数属中低难度的送分题。但由于高考所占的比例很大，应特别引起注意。事实和细节题的命题特点是：把某词语、某个句子或某具体事实用不同于原文的另一方式或句型表达，即同义改写。解答这类题的窍门是：A)注意掌握英语的多种表达法；B)正确分析词语在句中的作用；C)熟练运用英语的句型转换；D)读懂题干所提出的问题，并准确地找到文中涉及该问题的句子。

比如文章第4小题，首先根据题干内容“根据Friedman，减少儿童托管的时间…”，这里需要在文章中找到表述Friedman 观点的内容，所以快速定位在文章倒数第二段的内容“There are other possibilities that can be entertained. Yes it is a quick solution-more hours in child care is associated with more problems. The easy solution is to cut the number of hours but that may have implications for the family that may not be beneficial for the development of the children in terms of economics.”阅读四个选项，可发现A选项（可能阻止一些家庭必要的经济来源。）切合Friedman的观点，故选A。