Question

Traditional fairytales are being abandoned by parents because they are too scary for their young children, a study found.

         Research revealed one in five parents has ditched old classics such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Rapunzel in favour of more modern books. One third of parents said their children have been left in tears after hearing the horrible details of Little Red Riding Hood. And nearly half of mothers and fathers refuse to read Rumplestiltskin to their kids as the themes of the story are kidnapping and execution. Similarly, Goldilocks and the Three Bears was also a tale likely to be left on the book shelf as parents felt it forgives stealing.

         The survey of 2,000 adults was conducted to mark the launch of the hit US drama GRIMM, which starts tonight at 9 p.m. on Watch, and sees six episodes(片段) based on traditional fairytales. The poll found a quarter of parents polled wouldn’t consider reading a fairytale to their child until they had reached the age of five, as they prompt too many awkward questions from their offspring(后代子孫).

         Steve Hornsey, General Manager of Watch, said: “Bedtime stories are supposed to soothe children and send them off to sleep soundly. But as we see in GRIMM, fairytales can be dark and dramatic tales so it’s understandable that parents worry about reading them to young children.”

         “As adults we can see the innocence in fairytales, but a five year old with an over active imagination could take things too seriously. Despite the dark nature of classic fairytales, as we see in GRIMM, good will triumph over evil and there is always a moral to the story.”

         The study also found two thirds of mums and dads try to avoid stories which might give their children nightmares.

         However, half of parents said traditional tales are more likely to have a strong moral message than a lot of modern kids’ books, such as The Gruffalo, The Hungary Caterpillar and the Mr. Men books.

1.Why don’t some parents want to read Rumplestiltskin to their kids?

A. Rumplestiltskin is too long.

B. Rumplestiltskin is too difficult.

C. Rumplestiltskin forgives stealing.

D. Rumplestiltskin may influence Children badly.

2.We can learn from paragraph 3 that Grimm is ___________.

A. a fairytales book

B. a movie for children

C. a play loved by children

D. a drama based on traditional fairytales

3.The underlined word “soothe “in paragraph4 can be replaced by___________.

A. put down                   B. calm down         C. take down                 D. come down

4.What’s the author’s attitude towards traditional fairytales?

A. Optimistic         B. Not mentioned

C. Casual             D. Disapproving

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.D

2.D

3.B

4.B

【解析】

試題分析：本文講述了一項研究發現，父母們開始摒棄傳統的童話故事，因為它們對年幼的孩子來說太嚇人。這一調查涵蓋了2000名成人。開展該調查是為了紀念美國熱門電視劇《格林》今晚9點在Watch首播，人們將看到6集根據傳統童話故事改編的情節大膽的電視劇。文中闡述了傳統童話的利于弊。

1.細節理解題。根據“And nearly half of mothers and fathers refuse to read Rumplestiltskin to their kids as the themes of the story are kidnapping and execution.” 父母們不愿給孩子念童話故事《紡線姑娘》，因為故事的主題是綁架和處決。這些都會極壞地影響孩子。故選D。

2. 細節理解題。根據“The survey of 2,000 adults was conducted to mark the launch of the hit US drama GRIMM, which starts tonight at 9 p.m. on Watch, and sees six episodes(片段) based on traditional fairytales.”可知Grimm是以傳統童話故事為基礎的戲劇，故選D。

3.詞義猜測題。因為是睡前故事，所以應該讓孩子平靜下來。A. put down鎮壓，記下；             B. calm down平靜下來；C. take down記下，拿下，拆卸；D. come down下來，落下。故選B。

4.推理判斷題。本文只是客觀闡述了這項調查的結果，介紹了父母對于童話的看法，并沒有提及自己對傳統童話的態度。故選B。

考點：社會現象類閱讀。