【小阅读^大脑袋】0903 NO.408

Kathy started at my nursery school at the age of three. She settled into the group easily, and would be first on the slide and highest up the climbing frame. She could put on her coat without help and not only fasten her own buttons but other children’s too.

She was a lovely child but unfortunately a scratcher. If anyone upset her or stood in her way, her right hand would flash out fast and scratch down the face of her playmates. Children twice her age would fly in fear from her.

This must have been very rewarding for Kathy but obviously it had to be stopped. All the usual ways failed and then I remembered an account by G Atkinson Highfield School, of how fights in the playground had been stopped. No punishment had been given, but the attacker had been ignored and the victims rewarded. So I decided to try out on Kathy.

With a pocketful of Smarties I followed Kathy around. She was so quick that it was impossible to prevent her scratching, but I was determined to stay within arm’s length all afternoon.

All was peaceful but then I saw Kathy’s hand moved and heard the scream. Gently I gathered up the little hurt one in my arms and said “Nice, nice sweetie” and I put a Smartie into her mouth. Kathy opened her mouth, expecting a Smartie and then looked puzzled when she got nothing.

Soon came another scream, this time from John. While holding him in my arms, I said, “Look, Kathy, a nice Smartie for John” and put it into John’s mouth.

A smile of understanding flashed across Kathy’s face. Minutes later, she came to me and said loudly, “Give me a Smartie! I have hurt my finger!”

“No,” I replied, “you’ll get it if someone hurts you.”

On purpose, she turned and scratched a nearby boy, Tom, and waited quietly while I mothered and rewarded him, then she walked away.

She has never scratched a child since.

Parents who find older children bullying younger brothers and sisters might do well to replace shouting and punishment by rewarding and giving more attention to the injured ones. It’s certainly much easier and more effective.
BCB
答案解析：
1. From the passage, we know that Kathy is _______.
A. sensitive but slow
B. smart but a bit rude
C. independent but selfish
D. quick but sort of passive.
解析：B正确
从这篇文章，我们可以知道凯西是个什么样的孩子？
第一段都是对凯西长处的描述，第二段一个but转折，凯西喜欢抓别人。所以她既聪明又有些粗鲁。

 

2. According to the passage, the underlined word “bullying” is closest in meaning to“_______”.
A. helping
B. punishing
C. hurting
D. protecting
解析：C正确
这个可以根据常识以及上下文分析得出，年长的孩子欺负年幼的孩子。所以下文的纠正这些行为的方法。

3. The writer of this passage aims to recommend an approach to _______.
A. rewarding children’s good behavior
B correcting children’s bad behavior
C. punishing badly-behaved children
D. praising well-behaved children
解析：B正确
作者写这篇文章的目的是介绍一种什么方法？
作者说到用奖励和关心受伤的孩子来代替惩罚教训调皮的孩子是更有效的方法，并通过凯西的例子得到证明。这是对孩子坏习惯的纠正方法。

参考译文：
三岁的凯西在我的幼儿园上学。她轻易就能融入到集体中，她总是最先上到滑滑梯，在攀登架上爬得最高。她可以不用别人帮忙就能自己穿上外套，她不仅会自己扣扣子，还会帮助其他孩子扣好扣子。

她是个很可爱的孩子，不过遗憾的是她喜欢抓人。如果有人让她不高兴了或是挡了她的路，她的右手就会瞬间出击，抓伤同伴的脸。年纪比她大一倍的孩子看到她也会害怕地逃开。

这对凯西来说当然很威风了，但是很显然这个习惯必须改正。所有常用的方法都宣告失败后，我想起G•阿特金森•海菲尔德学校关于如何阻止校园打斗的一篇报道。不是进行惩罚，而是忽略打人者，给挨打者奖励。所以我决定在凯西身上试试这个方法。

装了一口袋聪明豆，我跟着凯西到处走。她出手太快，根本不可能阻止她抓人，但是我决定整个下午都跟在她后面保持一个胳膊的距离。

一切都很太平，直到我看见凯西的手动了，接着就是尖叫声。我轻轻地双手抱住受伤的孩子，说：“乖，好孩子，”然后我把一粒聪明豆喂进她嘴里。凯西张开嘴，想要一粒聪明豆，但是什么都没有得到，她一脸困惑。

很快又有人叫，这次是约翰。我一边抱着他，一边说：“看，凯西，给约翰一粒好吃的聪明豆”，然后把糖放进约翰的嘴里。

凯西的脸上闪过恍然大悟的笑容。几分钟后，她到我跟前来，大声地说：“给我聪明豆！我手指破了！”

“不行，”我回答，“只有别人伤害了你，你才能得到聪明豆。”

她故意转过去抓附近的一个男孩汤姆，然后安静地等待，看着我关怀，奖励汤姆，然后她走开了。

她从此再也没有抓伤别的孩子。

在发现大一些的孩子欺负年幼的兄弟姐妹的时候，父母去奖励和更多的关心受伤的孩子比呵斥和惩罚更能收到好效果。这样做要容易得多并且更加有用。

 

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词汇及短语：
nursery: 托儿所, 育儿室
settle into: 有头绪, 上正轨
例：Things soon settled into shape.
事情很快有了头绪。
slide： n. 滑行, 滑落；幻灯片
climbing frame：(儿童玩的)攀登架
fasten：系紧, 拴牢
scratcher： 抓扒者,抓扒工具
scratch：抓, 搔；刮伤
upset：使苦恼, 使心烦; 使不适
flash：飞速运动，掠过；突然想到，猛然想起
playmate：起玩耍的朋友, 游戏的伙伴
rewarding：报答的;值得做的;有益的;有报酬的;值得的
account：描述，描写；叙述，记述；报道；记事；故事
playground：操场; 游乐场, 娱乐场
Smartie：聪明豆
scream：尖叫, 尖叫声
mother：vt.给以母亲的关爱；像母亲般地照顾
bully: vt.恐吓, 威逼