1、大学英语四级改革适用（阅读）模拟试卷 65及答案与解析 Section B 0 Helicopter Moms VS. Free-Range Kids A)Would you let your fourth-grader ride public transportation without an adult? Probably not. Still, when Lenore Skenazy, a columnist for the New York Sun, wrote about letting her son take the subway alone to get back to “Lo
2、ng story short: my son got home from a department store on the Upper East Side“, she didnt expect to get hit with a wave of criticism from readers. B)“Long story short: My son got home, overjoyed with independence,“ Skenazy wrote on April 4 in the New York Sun. “Long story longer: Half the people Iv
3、e told this episode to now want to turn on in for child abuse. As if keeping kids under lock and key and cell phone and careful watch is the right way to rear kids. Its not. Its debilitating(使虚弱 )for us and for them.“ C)Online message boards were soon full of people both applauding and condemning Sk
4、enazys decision to let her son go it alone. She wound up defending herself on CNN(accompanied by her son)and on popular blogs like the buffing ton post, where her follow-up piece was ironically headlined “More From America s Worst Mom.“ D)The episode has ignited another one of those debates that div
5、ides parents into vocal opposing camps. Are Modern parents needlessly overprotective, or is the world a more complicated and dangerous place than it was when previous generations were allowed to wander about unsupervised? E)From the “shes an irresponsible mother“ camp came: “Shame on you for being s
6、o careless about his safety,“ in Comments on the buffing ton post. And there was this from a mother of four: “How would you have felt if he didnt come home?“ But Skenazy got a lot of support, too, with women and men writing in with stories about how they were allowed to take trips all by themselves
7、at seven or eight. She also got heaps of praise for bucking the “helicopter parent“ trend: “Good for this Mom,“ one commenter wrote on the buffing ton post. “This is a much-needed reality check.“ F)Last week, encouraged by all the attention, Skenazy started her own blog Free Range kids promoting the
8、 idea that modern children need some of the same independence that her generation had. In the good old days nine-year-old baby boomers rode their bikes to school, walked to the store, took buses and even subways all by themselves. Her blog, she says, is dedicated to sensible parenting. “At Free Rang
9、e Kids, we believe in safe kids. We believe in car seats and safety belts. We do NOT believe that every time school-age children go outside, they need a security guard.“ G)So why are some parents so nervous about letting their children out of their sight? Are cities and towns less safe and kids more
10、 vulnerable to crimes like child kidnap and sexual abuse than they were in previous generations? H)Not exactly. New York City, for instance, is safer than its ever been; its ranked 36th in crime among all American cities. Nationwide, stranger kidnaps are extremely rare; theres a one-in-a-million cha
11、nce a child will be taken by a stranger, according to the Justice Department. And 90 percent of sexual abuse cases are committed by someone the child knows. Mortality rates from all causes, including disease and accidents, for American children are lower now than they were 25 years ago. According to
12、 Child Trends, a nonprofit research group, between 1980 and 2003 death rates dropped by 44 percent for children aged 5 to 14 and 32 percent for teens aged 15 to 19. I)Then theres the whole question of whether modern parents are more watchful and nervous about safety than previous generations. Yes, s
13、ome are. Part of the problem is that with wall to wall Internet and cable news, every missing child case gets so much airtime that its not surprising even normal parental anxiety can be amplified. And many middle-class parents have gotten used to managing their childrens time and shuttling them to v
14、arious enriching activities, so the idea of letting them out on their own can seem like a risk. Back in 1972, when many of todays parents were kids, 87 percent of children who lived within a mile of school walked or biked every day. But today, the Centers for Disease Control report that only 13 perc
15、ent of children bike, walk or otherwise get themselves to school. J)The extra supervision is both a city and a suburb phenomenon. Parents are worried about crime, and they are worried about kids getting caught in traffic in a city thats not used to pedestrians. On the other hand, there are still ple
16、nty of kids whose parents give them a lot of independence, by choice or by necessity. The After School Alliance finds that more than 14 million kids aged 5 to 17 are responsible for taking care of themselves after school. Only 6.5 million kids participate in organized programs. “Many children who ha
17、ve working parents have to take the subway or bus to get to school. Many do this by themselves because they have no other way to get to the schools,“ says Dr. Richard Gallagher, director of the Parenting Institute at the New York University Child Study Center. K)For those parents who wonder how and
18、when they should start allowing their kids more freedom, theres no clear-cut answer. Child experts discourage a one-size-fits-all approach to parenting. Whats right for Skenazys nine-year-old could be inappropriate for another one. It all depends on developmental issue, maturity, and the psychologic
19、al and emotional makeup of that child. Several factors must be taken into account, says Gallagher. “The ability to follow parent guidelines, the childs level of comfort in handling such situations, and a child s general judgment should be weighed.“ L)Gallagher agrees with Skenazy that many nine-year
20、-olds are ready for independence like taking public transportation alone. “At certain times of the day, on certain routes, the subways are generally safe for these children, especially if they have grown up in the city and have been taught how to be safe, how to obtain help if they are concerned for
21、 their safety, and how to avoid unsafe situations by being watchful and on their toes.“ M)But even with more traffic and fewer sidewalks, modern parents do have one advantage their parents didnt: the cell phone. Being able to check in with a child anytime goes a long way toward relieving parental an
22、xiety and may help parents loosen their control a little sooner. Skenazy got a lot of criticism because she didn t give her kid her cell phone because she thought hed lose it and wanted him to learn to go it alone without depending on mom a major principle of free-range parenting. But most parents a
23、re more than happy to use cell phones to keep track of their kids. N)And for those who like the idea of free-range kids but still struggle with their inner helicopter parent, there may be a middle way. A new generation of GPS cell phones with tracking software make it easier than ever to follow a ch
24、ilds every movement via the Internet without seeming to interfere or hover. Of course, when they go to college, they might start objecting to being monitored as they re on parole(假释 ). 1 Lots of support and condemn have come to Skenazy s decision to let her son get home alone online. 2 Comments on t
25、he buffing ton post say she is an irresponsible mother, and doesnt care about her son s safety. 3 A new cell phone with tracking software make it easier to follow a childs movement. 4 Some parents wonder when and how to give their kids more freedom, but child experts say there is no one-size-fits-al
26、l approach. 5 Skenazy didnt give her kids her mobile phone, but most parents are very happy to do this. 6 Dr. Richard Gallagher says, many children have to take the subway or bus to get to school by themselves. 7 Keeping kids under lock and key and cell phone is not the right way to rear kids, it on
27、ly debilitates parents and kids both. 8 Mortality rates of children are lower now than they were 25 years ago. 9 Skenazy says that in old days, nine-year-old baby boomers rode their bikes to school without a security guard. 10 There is a debate about whether Modern parents are overprotective or is t
28、he world a more complicated one. 10 Obamas Success Isnt All Good News for Black Americans A)As Erin White watched the election results head towards victory for Barack Obama, she felt a burden lifting from her shoulders. “In that one second, it was a validation for my whole race,“ she recalls. B)“Ive
29、 always been an achiever,“ says White, who is studying for an MBA at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. “But there had always been these things in the back of my mind questioning whether I really can be who I want. It was like a shadow, following me around saying you can only go so far.
30、Now it s like a barrier has been let down.“ C)Whites experience is what many psychologists had expected that Obama would prove to be a powerful role model for African Americans. Some hoped his rise to prominence would have a big impact on white Americans, too, challenging those who still harbor raci
31、st sentiments. “The traits that characterise him are very contradictory to the racial stereotypes that black people are aggressive and uneducated,“ says Ashby Plant of Florida State University. “Hes very intelligent and eloquent.“ Sting in the tail D)Ashby Plant is one of a number of psychologists w
32、ho seized on Obamas candidacy to test hypotheses about the power of role models. Their work is already starting to reveal how the “Obama effect“ is changing people s views and behavior. Perhaps surprisingly, it is not all good news: there is a sting in the tail of the Obama effect. E)But first the g
33、ood news, Barack Obama really is a positive role model for African Americans, and he was making an impact even before he got to the White House. Indeed, the Obama effect can be surprisingly immediate and powerful, as Ray Friedman of Vanderbilt University and his colleagues discovered. F)They tested
34、four separate groups at four key stages of Obamas presidential campaign. Each group consisted of around 120 adults of similar age and education, and the test assessed their language skills. At two of these stages, when Obama s success was less than certain, the tests showed a clear difference betwee
35、n the scores of the white and black participants an average of 12.1 out of 20, compared to 8.8, for example. When the Obama fever was at its height, however, the black participants performed much better. Those who had watched Obamas acceptance speech as the Democrats presidential candidate performed
36、 just as well, on average, as the white subjects. After his election victory, this was true of all the black participants. Dramatic shift G)What can explain this dramatic shift? At the start of the test, the participants had to declare their race and were told their results would be used to assess t
37、heir strengths and weaknesses. This should have primed the subjects with “stereotype threat“ an anxiety that their results will confirm negative stereotypes, which has been shown to damage the performance of African Americans. H)Obamas successes seemed to act as a shield against this. “We suspect th
38、ey felt inspired and energized by his victory, so the stereotype threat wouldnt prove a distraction,“ says Friedman. Lingering racism I)If the Obama effect is positive for African Americans, how is it affecting their white compatriots(同胞 )? Is the experience of having a charismatic(有魅力的 )black presi
39、dent modifying lingering racist attitudes? There is no easy way to measure racism directly; instead psychologists assess what is known as “implicit bias“, using a computer-based test that measures how quickly people associate positive and negative words such as “love“ or “evil“ with photos of black
40、or white faces. A similar test can also measure how quickly subjects associate stereotypical traits such as athletic skills or mental ability with a particular group. J)In a study that will appear in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Plants team tested 229 students during the height of
41、the Obama fever. They found that implicit bias has fallen by as much as 90% compared with the level found in a similar study in 2006. “That s an unusually large drop,“ Plant says. K)While the team cant be sure their results are due solely to Obama, they also showed that those with the lowest bias we
42、re likely to subconsciously associate black skin colour with political words such as “government“ or “president“. This suggests that Obama was strongly on their mind, says Plant. Drop in bias L)Brian Nosek of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, who runs a website that measures implicit bi
43、as using similar test, has also observed a small drop in bias in the 700,000 visitors to the site since January 2007, which might be explained by Obamas rise to popularity. However, his preliminary results suggest that change will be much slower coming than Plants results suggest. Talking honestly M
44、)“People now have the opportunity of expressing support for Obama every day,“ says Daniel Effron at Stanford University in California. “Our research arouses the concern that people may now be more likely to raise negative views of African Americans.“ On the other hand, he says, it may just encourage
45、 people to talk more honestly about their feelings regarding race issues, which may not be such a bad thing. N)Another part of the study suggests far more is at stake than the mere expression of views. The Obama effect may have a negative side. Just one week after Obama was elected president, partic
46、ipants were less ready to support policies designed to address racial inequality than they had been two weeks before the election. Beyond race O)We also dont yet know how long the Obama effect both its good side and its badwill last. Political sentiment is notoriously changeable: What if things begi
47、n to go wrong for Obama, and his popularity slumps? P)And what if Americans become so familiar with having Obama as their president that they stop considering his race altogether? “Over time he might become his own entity,“ says Plant. This might seem like the ultimate defeat for racism, but ignorin
48、g the race of certain select individuals a phenomenon that psychologists call subtyping also has an insidious(隐伏的 )side. “We think it happens to help people preserve their beliefs, so they can still hold on to the previous stereotypes.“ That could turn out to be the cruelest of all the twists to the
49、 Obama effect. 11 Many psychologists expected that Obama would be a powerful role model for African Americans. 12 Brian Nosek observes there is a small drop in bias in the 700,000 visitors to website that measures implicit bias, because of Obamas rise to popularity. 13 Obama effect has both good side and bad side, but nobody knows how long it will last. 14 Obamas successes have helped African Americans to get rid of their anxiety of negative stereotypes. 15 Barack Obamas positive role has made an impact
