Why people always say “kids these days...”总批评现在的孩子，是什么在作祟？

刘娜

你的父母會经常拿你与这个年纪时候的他们做比较吗？会批评你比不上同龄的他们吗？你又该如何面对这种批评呢？一些老一辈的人会说现在的孩子如何如何不好。那么，现在的孩子真的不如以前吗？

题材 心理 体裁 议论文 文章词数 398 建议用时 8 min

难词探意

1. trait /tre?t/ n. 特点;特性

2. authoritarianism /??θ?r??te?ri?n?z?m/ n. 权威主义

3. cognitive /?k?ɡn?t?v/ adj. 认知的;感知的

4. category /?k?t?ɡ?ri/ n. 类别

5. speculate /?spekjule?t/ v. 推测

6. impose /?m?p??z/ v. 迫使;把……强加于

7. bias /?ba??s/ n. 偏向;偏见

8. mediocre /?mi?di???k?（r）/ adj. 平庸的

9. vanity /?v?n?ti/  n. 自负;自大

预读思考

1. What drives the old to belittle the kids these days according to the text？

2. Have you ever been belittled by the old， including your parents？ How will you react toward such behavior？

3. Can you find any expressions with similar meaning to “look down upon” from the text？ Please list them as many as possible.

What is it about kids these days that makes older generations so easily angry？ In some way or another， older generations have been disappointed at the youths decline since the earliest days of civilization. Even Aristotle talked smack about how young folks thought they knew everything back in the 4th century BC.

So why do people throw all the shade on the next generation？ A study out last month in Science Ad?vances shows that negative opinions about kids arent always based on their actions; its more about how adults praise their past and current selves.

In the study， researchers looked at a trio of traits in three groups of US adults： respect for elders or authoritarianism， intelligence， and enjoyment of reading. The team， led by John Protzko， a cognitive scientist at the University of California， Santa Barbara， asked the participants whether they thought kids in the modern age shared the same qualities. They found that adults who tested especially strong in one of the categories tended to see children today as weak in it. For example， if an adult got tagged or self?identified as intelligent， they were more likely to see “kids these days” as less intelligent than they used to be. This， Protzko thinks， is because they remembered their younger selves to be smarter， whether true or not. Whats more， they only reserved their strong opinions for traits they related to.

In another stage of the study， the authors assigned random scores to participants to trick them into thinking how well?read they were. Many of the adults changed their opinions on kids reading ability as a result. Protzko speculates that there are two reasons for the shift： How memories can go wrong and the lack of objective knowledge of what childhood is really like. “People who are high in a trait are imposing their current high standing in that trait back in time， thinking ‘Oh this must have been what all kids were like， ” he says. Over the years， the same memory bias keeps occurring， making it seem like kids are somehow failing more and more. In fact， the older a participant was， the more heavily this bias came into play， Protzko says.

While theres still a lot to learn about why adults might see younger generations as mediocre， this research can hint that an age?old phrase can boil down to one classic human trait： vanity.

—From Popular Science

阅读自测

Please write a summary of the text. Your article should be about 60 words.

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文本探究

探究视角1：语言学习

Ⅰ. 文本填空

1. What is it about kids these days

makes older generations so easily angry？

2. A study out last month in Science Advances shows that negative opinions about kids arent always based______ their actions.

3. The team， ______（由……领导） by John Protzko， asked the participants whether they thought kids in the modern age shared the same qualities.

4. People who are high in a trait are imposing their current high standing in that trait back in time，______（认为）“Oh this must have been what all kids were like.”

5. Over the years， the same memory bias keeps occurring，  ______（使得） it seem like kids are somehow failing more and more.

Ⅱ. 话题表达

1. 与“轻视”有关的话题表达

be disappointed at the youth's decline  对年轻人的不思进取感到失望

talk smack  批评;贬低

throw shade on  对……公开批评/严厉批评

negative opinions 负面观点

share the same qualities  拥有同样的品质

see children today as weak in it  认为今天的孩子在这一方面是弱者

get tagged or self?identified as intelligent  被贴上聪明的标签或自作聪明

see “kids these days” as less intelligent than they used to be  认为现在的孩子没有他们以前聪明

remember their younger selves to be smarter  记忆中他们年轻时的自己更聪明

only reserve their strong opinions for traits they related to  仅保留与他们特质相关的强烈意见memory bias  记忆偏差/偏见

see younger generations as mediocre  认为年青的一代平庸

boil down to one classic human trait  归结为一个典型的人类特征

2. 其他表达

in some way or another  以某种方式或另一种方式

be based on  以……为依据

tend to do 倾向于……

be likely to do  极有可能做……

trick sb into doing  诱骗某人做某事

探究视角2：语篇分析

一些年长者会拿他们自身在某一领域的优势表现与年轻人在该领域的表現做对比，由此认为年轻人不如他们。有时，他们的这种偏见甚至是一厢情愿的。一项新的研究对此进行了调查并分析了其中的原因。研究表明：成人容易认为年轻时的他们比当下的年轻人更聪明。更有甚者，他们只对与他们相关的特征保留他们的强烈意见。而且，年龄越大，偏见就越严重，而造成这些偏见的根本原因则是人类的虚荣心。

本文是一篇议论文。议论文的目的在于说服读者同意或支持其观点。本文的基本结构包括引论（Para. 1&2）、本论（Para. 3&4）和结论（Para. 5）。引论提出讨论的问题，本论摆出证据，结论重申在文章开头已提出的见解或主张。

探究視角3：论证方法

议论文的阅读需要关注其论证方法。议论文中常见的论证方法有举例论证、道理论证、因果论证、比喻论证、对比论证以及归谬论证等。其中归谬论证首先假设对方的论点是正确的，然后对这一论点加以引申、推论，从而得出极其荒谬可笑的结论，以驳倒对方论点。归谬法主要用于驳论文章。这种论证方法常和泼辣、犀利的语言相配合，以达到辛辣、有力而富有幽默感的表达效果。

探究视角4：思维拓展

从陶行知的四粒糖看皮格马利翁效应

一次，陶行知看见一个男孩用泥块砸自己班上的男生。陶行知赶紧上前制止了他，并请举泥块的孩子到办公室去一下。当男孩已低着头做好了接受一番“口水轰炸”教育的准备时，陶行知从口袋里摸出一粒糖递至男孩跟前。他说：“这颗糖奖励你很守时，老师请你来，你就来了，没有磨蹭！”

陶行知又从口袋里掏出一粒糖：“这颗糖是奖励你对我的尊重，老师叫你来你就来了，没有违拗，所以我要奖励你！”

紧接着，陶行知又从兜里掏出第三粒糖，说：“这颗糖是奖励你有正义感，你是因为那个男孩欺负别的女孩子才对他举起泥块的……”

这次，男孩羞赧了，说：“老师，即使他欺负别人我也不该用泥块砸他，那多危险呀！”

陶行知笑眯眯地又从兜里掏出第四颗糖：“你真是个知错就改的好孩子！”

男孩蹦蹦跳跳地走了，快乐的手心攥着四颗甜蜜的糖。

陶行知先生在“四粒糖”的故事中，给那位犯错的孩子四粒糖，这四粒糖其实是“守时的糖”“尊重的糖”“见义勇为的糖”“知错就改的糖”，这就是教育的艺术。这是陶行知先生巧妙应用皮格马利翁效应教育孩子，使其达到自己预设目标的经典案例。

皮格马利翁效应（Pygmalion Effect），又称罗森塔尔效应。美国心理学家罗森塔尔和雅克布森在智力测验中发现，通过教师对学生心理的潜移默化的影响，学生可以取得教师原来所期望的进步现象。

孩子的成长需要美好的环境。望子成龙、望女成凤是家长对孩子们的普遍期望。在陪伴孩子成长的过程中，家长们应该多一分耐心、鼓励和引导，少一点指责、轻视和谩骂。

写作实践

假定你是李华，你想发一封电子邮件给Crazy English，反映你遇到的困难。在学习生活中，你经常受到父母的批评，这让你十分沮丧。请你根据以下要点写一篇100词左右的求助信。要点如下：

1. 你的苦恼;

2. 渴望帮助。

Dear Editor?in?chief of Crazy English，______________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

Yours，

Li Hua