Question

If your preschoolers turn up their noses at carrots or celery, a small reward like a sticker(貼畫) for taking even a taste may help get them to eat previously disliked foods, a UK study said.

Though it might seem obvious that a reward could encourage young children to eat their vegetables, the idea is actually controversial, researchers wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. That’s because some studies have shown that rewards can backfire and cause children to lose interest in foods they already liked, said Jane Wardle, a researcher at University College London who worked on the study. Verbal praise, such as “Brilliant! You’re a great vegetable taster”, did not work as well.

The study found that when parents gave their small children a sticker each time they took a “tiny taste” of a disliked vegetable, it gradually changed their attitudes. The children were also willing to eat more of the vegetables—either carrots, celery, cucumber, red pepper, cabbage or sugar snap peas—in laboratory taste tests, the study said.

Researchers randomly assigned (分派) 173 families to one of these groups. In one, parents used stickers to reward their children each time they took a tiny sample of a disliked vegetable. A second group of parents used verbal praise. The third group, where Parents used no special vegetable-promoting methods, served as a “control”.

Parents in the reward groups offered their children a taste of the “target” vegetable every day for 12 days. Soon after, children in the sticker group were giving higher ratings to the vegetables—and were willing to eat more in the research lab, going from an average of 5 grams at the start to about 10 grams after the 12-day experience. The turnaround(轉(zhuǎn)機) also seemed to last, with preschoolers in the sticker group still willing to eat more of the once-disliked vegetable three months later.

Why didn’t the verbal praise work? Wardle said the parents’ words may have seemed “insincere” to their children.

1.The purpose of writing the passage is _______ .

A. to explain why children hate to eat vegetables

B. to present a proper way of verbal praise to parents

C. to show the procedure of an experiment on children’s diet

D. to introduce a practical method of making children eat vegetables

2.The underlined word “backfire” in Paragraph 2 probably means “_______”.

A. produce an unexpected result

B. shoot from behind the back

C. make a fire in the backyard

D. achieve what was planned

3.Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A. Most children are born to dislike carrots or celery.

C. Oral praise works quite well in encouraging children to eat vegetables.

B. Children in the sticker group will never lose interest in eating vegetables.

D. It remains a question whether rewarding is a good way to get children to eat vegetables.

4.What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A. Children are difficult to inspire.

B. Parents should give up verbal praise.

C. Parents should praise their children in a sincere tone.

D. Children like rewards, not verbal praise.

Answer 1

1.D

2.A

3.D

4.C

【解析】

試題解析：隨著生活條件的改善，現(xiàn)在的孩子們對食物也越來越挑剔，很多孩子都不喜歡吃青菜，針對這一點，最近一項調(diào)查表示，一些小獎勵就可以讓小孩子吃下原本不想吃的食物。但是這個方法依然存在爭議，因為可能讓孩子對以前喜歡的東西喪失興趣。

1. 考查主旨大意題。根據(jù)文章第一段“If your preschoolers turn up their noses at carrots or celery, a small reward like a sticker(貼畫) for taking even a taste may help get them to eat previously disliked foods, a UK study said. ”可知：一項英國研究稱，如果學齡前小孩不愿吃蔬菜，只要他們嘗嘗味道，就給他們一些小獎勵，或許可以幫助小孩吃下原本不想吃的食物。由此推斷，文章意在介紹讓小孩吃蔬菜的方法。故選D。

2. 考查詞義辨析題。A導致一個不期望的結(jié)果；B背后射擊；C后院放火；D達到計劃。根據(jù)第二段“That’s because some studies have shown that rewards can backfire and cause children to lose interest in foods they already liked, said Jane Wardle, a researcher at University College London who worked on the study. ”倫敦大學一個研究者說，一些研究表明獎勵能夠?qū)е潞⒆觽儗λ麄円郧跋矚g的東西失去興趣，這是家長始料未及的。由此猜出劃線單詞的含義，故選A。

3. 考查細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段第一句話“Though it might seem obvious that a reward could encourage young children to eat their vegetables, the idea is actually controversial, researchers wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. ”學者在美國臨床營養(yǎng)學期刊寫道：雖然獎勵明顯可以讓小孩子吃蔬菜，但這個主意確實存在爭議。所以不能確定獎勵是否是個好方法。故選D。

4. 考查細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章最后一句話“Why didn’t the verbal praise work? Wardle said the parents’ words may have seemed “insincere” to their children. ”為什么口頭獎勵不起效，沃德爾說父母的話可能對孩子們來說太不真實了。所以父母在獎勵孩子時，應該更加真誠一些。故選C。

考點：考查議論文閱讀