Question

    Although we live in an era where everything seems to be available immediately, our study suggests that today’s kids can delay gratification(满足感) longer than children in the 1960s and 1980s,“ said University of Minnesota psychologist Stephanie M. Carlson.” This finding stands in great contrast with the assumption by adults that today’s children have less self-control than previous generations.

The original marshmallow(棉花糖) test conducted by researchers at Stanford University involved a series of experiments in which children aged between 3 and 5 years were offered one treat that they could eat immediately or a larger treat if they waited. Researchers then left the room to see how long the children would wait and watched from behind a one-way mirror.

Interestingly, today's adults thought that children nowadays would be more impulsive and less able to wait, Carlson found. "Our findings serve as an example of how our beliefs can be wrong and how it's important to do research,” said co-author Yuichi Shoda, PhD at the University of Washington.

The researchers offered several possible explanations for why children in the 2000s waited longer than those in prior decades. They noted a statistically significant increase in IQ scores in the last several decades. Another explanation may be society's increased focus on the importance of early education, according to Carlson. The primary objective of preschool changed from largely custodial care (监护) to school readiness in the 1980s. Parenting also has changed in ways that help promote the development of executive function, such as being more supportive of children's self-control, the researchers noted.

Walter Mischel of Columbia University, who co-authored this paper, noted that “while the results indicate that the children’s ability to delay is not weakened on the marshmallow test, the findings do not speak to their willingness to delay gratification when faced with the many temptations now available in everyday life.”

1.According to the passage, what is the adults' assumption about today's children?

A.They are not easy to please.

B.They are less able to control themselves.

C.They don't like things that are easy to get.

D.They have different personalities from previous generations.

2.What does the underlined word "impulsive " in Paragraph 3 mean?

A.productive B.considerate

C.clear-minded D.hot-headed

3.What did the researchers find about children in the 2000s?

A.They are more prepared to go to school.

B.They are not as clever as previous generations.

C.They are taught self-control only by their teachers.

D.They don’t need any custodial care in their early childhood.

4.What does the author want to tell readers in the last paragraph?

A.Most children nowadays can't resist the temptations of everyday life.

B.Children chose to delay gratification willingly in the marshmallow test.

C.The test can’t accurately measure children's willingness to delay gratification.

D.Children’s ability to delay gratification is weakened because there are many temptations.

Answer

1.B

2.D

3.A

4.C

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。研究表明，现在孩子比以前的孩子更具有延迟满足的能力。文章描述了试验内容、结果以及出现这样的结果的原因。

1.细节理解题。由第一段中的This finding stands in great contrast with the assumption by adults that today’s children have less self-control than previous generations.（这些发现与成人对现在孩子的假设形成鲜明对比：成人认为现在的孩子自我控制力比之前的孩子差）可知，现在成人认为孩子的控制力差。故选B。

2.词句猜测题。“and”前后连接两个并列的成份，根据and后的“less able to wait（不愿意去等）”可知成人认为现在的孩子更加容易冲动。A. productive富有成效的；B. considerate考虑周到的；C. clear-minded头脑清楚的；D. hot-headed头脑发热的。故选D。

3.推理判断题。根据文章第四段中的“the primary object of preschool changed from largely custodial to school readiness（学前教育的目标从以监护为主改变成了入学准备）”可知，2000年左右的孩子更是做好了入学的准备。故选A。

4.推理判断题。根据最后一段Walter 所说的“while the results indicate that the children’s ability to delay is not weakened on the marshmallow test, the findings do not speak to their willingness to delay gratification when faced with the many temptations now available in everyday life.（尽管在棉花糖测试中，结果显示孩子延迟满足的能力没有被减弱，但是不能表明在日常生活中面对很多诱惑时，他们能延迟满足）”可知，在棉花糖测试中孩子们的延迟满足感的能力没有减弱并不能说明当面临诱惑的时候孩子们愿意选择延迟满足。故选C。