A
I can’t remember the first time one of my children told me, “I hate you.” I can, however, tell you that it still happens occasionally, but it doesn’t bother me. As their father, I often say things that are unpopular. If they hate me once in a while, I know I’m doing a good job.
There are three other words that I won’t allow in my house, however. Last week, I was watching my older son play with a paper airplane. After he accidentally threw it into a wall and it came apart, his eyes welled up with tears.
“I hate myself,” he said. It wasn’t the first time he’d said it, and I was concerned that he’d started to actually believe it.
I knelt down next to him and made him look into my eyes. I told him that I never wanted to hear those words again, and that he needed to respect himself.
The difference between your kid telling you they hate you and them saying they hate themselves is that, five minutes later, they’ve already forgotten they “hate you”. Self-hate is much more potentially poisonous and for young people, it can linger into the rest of their life.
Kids who start to believe they hate themselves sometimes struggle to form new friendships. As teenagers, they avoid the chance to connect with a potential love interest, because they assume they’ll be rejected. And as adults, they might choose not to apply for the dream job because they assume it won’t work out.
I know this is true, because I didn’t have a high opinion of myself as a child. I found myself struggling in many areas, and I’d hate to see my children suffer the same fate.
Sometimes, words are just words. But some words can make the kind of impact I’d very much like to avoid for my children. I don’t fear strong language; I fear language that makes us weak.
1. How did the author feel on hearing his kids saying “I hate you”?
A. Depressed. B. Annoyed. C. Unconcerned. D. Excited.
2. Why won’t the author allow the three words “I hate myself”?
A. Because the impact of thinking in this way is negative.
B. Because it hurts parents to hear their kids saying so.
C. Because it doesn’t make any sense to blame oneself.
D. Because the impoliteness of saying so is unbearable.
3. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “linger” in paragraph 5?
A. come to an end B. continue to exist C. begin to change D. become out of date
【答案】1. C 2. A 3. B
【解析】
【分析】
本文主要讲述作者不允许孩子说一些讨厌自己的话，让他们学会自尊，告诉我们要多说激励性的话，避免伤害到自己。
【1题详解】
细节理解题。根据文章第一段I can’t remember the first time one of my children told me, “I hate you.” I can, however, tell you that it still happens occasionally, but it doesn’t bother me.可知，当孩子对作者说“我恨你”时，作者感到无关紧要。故选C。
【2题详解】
细节理解题。根据文章第五段Self-hate is much more potentially poisonous and for young people, it can linger into the rest of their life.可知，自我憎恨所带来的影响是消极的并可能延续到他们的余生。故选A。
【3题详解】
词义猜测题。根据文章第五段Self-hate is much more potentially poisonous and for young people, it can linger into the rest of their life.（自我憎恨更具潜在毒性，对年轻人来说，它可以延续到他们的余生。）根据句意可以推测出linger为“延续”之意。故选B。
【点睛】阅读理解中通常都会出现词义猜测题，要求考生从上下文理解中概括出生词或短语的词义。考生作此类题型时，首先要找到所猜测词所在文章的位置，然后在理解文章大意的基础之上，对此词前后句反复研读，最后根据前后句猜测出词义。例如小题3要求猜测出linger的含义，就是要认真研读前句和此句，从而推测出为“延续”之意。
