The book Loveand Its Place in Nature observed that without love children tend to die.And Ashley Montagu, noted British-born anthropologist, went so far as to say:The child who has not been loved is biochemically, physiologically, andpsychologically very different from the one who has been loved. The former evengrows differently from the latter.

The Toronto Starreported on a study that reached similar conclusions. It said: “Children raisedwithout being regularly hugged, caressed or stroked…have abnormally high levelsof stress hormones.” Indeed, physical neglect during infancy “can have seriouslong-range effects on learning and memory.”

These findingsemphasize the need for the physical presence of parents. Otherwise, how canstrong ties develop between parent and child? But sorry to say, even inaffluent parts of the world, the tendency now is to try to supply a child’sneeds apart from his or her parents. Children are sent away to school, sentaway to work, sent away to summer camp, and given money and sent away to placesof recreation. Thrust out of the family nucleus, circling in orbit at adistance, as it were, millions of children naturally come to feel—if onlysubconsciously—neglected, unwanted, and unloved, surrounded by a hostile worldof grownups. Such a prevailing feeling among children may be one reason whythere are so many street children. Typical is young Micha, who said: “No onewanted me anymore.” A nine-year-old boy similarly complained: “I would ratherbe our dog.”

Child neglect isa form of mistreatment and it can lead to more sinister forms of mistreatmentsuch as the physical mistreatment and sexual abuse of children.

Regardless ofthe form mistreatment takes, it sends children the message that they areunloved and unwanted. According to the German newspaper Die Welt, “more andmore children are growing up to be social cripples.” It adds: “Children lackthe warmth of the nest. The emotional bonding between children and parents isbecoming weaker, or it is never established in the first place. Such childrenfeel neglected, and their desire for security goes unfulfilled.”

Children who aredenied their right to be wanted and loved may become bitter, taking out theirfrustrations on those who have neglected them or possibly on society as awhole. Fully a decade ago, a Canadian taskforce report signaled the need forimmediate action lest a whole generation “who think society doesn’t care aboutthem” be lost.

Unloved andunwanted youngsters may be tempted to run away from home to escape theirproblems, only to find bigger ones in cities plagued with crime, drugs, andimmorality. In fact, police have estimated that 20,000 runaways under 16 wereliving in one U.S. metropolitan area alone. They were described as “theproducts of broken homes and brutality, often inflicted by alcoholic ordrug-addicted parents. They take to the streets, use their bodies for survivaland then, beaten by pimps and bereft of self-esteem, live in fear of reprisalif they attempt to escape the racket.” Sad to say, despite honest efforts tochange this deplorable situation, it still exists.

Children growingup in the circumstances described above develop into unbalanced adults, oftenbeing unable to rear children of their own properly. Being unwanted and unlovedthemselves, they later produce more of their own kind.

1．The main idea of the passage is that______.

A. children needto be loved biochemically

B. children tendto die without love

C. lack of lovecan have serious effects on the growing-up of a child

D. neglectedchildren will grow up into unbalanced adults

2．It is implied in the passage that ______.

A. parents canestablish close ties with their children by letting them be

B. childrenshould receive education from their parents, not from schools

C. childrenshould not be forced to stay away from the family nucleus

D. childrenshould circle their parents in orbit at a distance

3．The reason why so many children havegrown up to be social cripples is that ______.

A. some parentscould only get warmth from other street children

B. many childrencould only get warmth from other street children

C. many childrenwanted to revenge their parents in this way

D. many childrenwanted to break the bind between them and their parents

4．Children take to the streets ______.

A. to seek waysof survival

B. to save theirself-esteem

C. to attempt toescape the racket

D. to escapefrom their miserable condition and parent abuse

5．Which of the following best defines themeaning of the word “bereft” in paragraph 7?

A. destroyed

B. deprived

C. weakened

D. threw away

【答案与解析】

1．C 纵观全文可知，本文主要介绍了孩子在无爱的环境中成长可能有的一些严重后果。只有C符合题意。

2．C 从第三段可知，“Thrust out of the family nucleus”和“circling in orbit at a distance”都会造成孩子对父母的失望及对社会的反感，放任自由并不能弥补父母对孩子的关爱，A项不对；B项文中没有提及；D项与文中意思相反，只有C项为正确答案。

3．B 从文中第五段可知，“Children lack the warmth of the nest”以及“the emotional bonding between children andparents”很脆弱，甚至根本没有建立，孩子觉得被忽视，缺乏安全感。因此我们可以推断这些孩子只有从那些与他们有着相同遭遇的街头流浪小孩处得到温暖。故选B项。

4．D 从文中第七段可知，他们是为了脱离困境以及父母的虐待。故选D项。

5．B “bereft”用于“self-esteem”之前，是指被剥夺了自尊，故B项为正确答案。 h9+tM/dZNJlg6JaLFNeoBCaRnNtuKs7q9hcsvLo7ED1TUUy9aQDM2JZxdERoTuIL