Why people always say“kids these days...”

山东威海乳山市教学研究中心 刘 娜

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/treıt/n.特点；特性

2.authoritarianism/ɔːθɒrı΄teəriənızəm/n.权威主义

3.cognitive/΄kɒɡnətıv/adj.认知的；感知的

4.category/΄kætəɡəri/n.类别

5.speculate/΄spekjuleıt/v.推测

6.impose/ım΄pəʊz/v.迫使；把……强加于

7.bias/΄baıəs/n.偏向；偏见

8.mediocre/ˌmiːdi΄əʊkə（r）/adj.平庸的

9.vanity/΄vænəti/ 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 youth's 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 Advances shows that negative opinions about kids aren't always based on their actions;it's more about how adults praise their past and current selves.

In the study,researchers looked at a trio oftraitsin three groups of US adults:respect for elders orauthoritarianism,intelligence,and enjoyment of reading.The team,led by John Protzko,acognitivescientist 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 thecategoriestended 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.What's 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 kid's reading ability as a result.Protzkospeculatesthat 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 areimposingtheir 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 memorybiaskeeps 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 there's still a lot to learn about why adults might see younger generations asmediocre,this research can hint that an age-old phrase can boil down to one classic human trait:vanity.

—FromPopular Science

阅读自测

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

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 daysmakes older generations so easily angry?

2.A study out last month in Science Advances shows that negative opinions about kids aren't always basedtheir actions.

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现做对比，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。

Structure Paragraph（s） Main idea(s)Phenomenon Para.1 T po h ie n ty eo du.th's decline has long been making older generations disap-Topic/Opinion Para.2 N th e eg i r a t pi v ae s t o ap ni dn i o cn u s rr e a nb to u s e t lv k ei d s s t ha ar ne kb ia ds se'd a cm t i o or ne s .o n how adults praise●Adults behaving well in a certain category would see children today as weak in it.Para.3●Adults unconditionally considered their younger selves to be smarter and only held their strong opinions for traits they were Findings andconnected to.reason（s） ●Many of the adults'opinions on kid's reading ability changed when the adults were assigned random scores.Para.4●An adult's bias against the kid might increase as he grew older.●Memories can go wrong and there lacks objective knowledge of what childhood is really like.Conclusion Para.5 M ge a nn e'rs a tv i o a nn si t y a si s m t eh de i oc fu r n e.damental reason for the old to see younger

探究视角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。

论证方法 举例举例论证 b（P ac a kr a i.n1 t）hE ev 4 e tn h A c e ri n s tt uo rt l ye Bt a Cl.k ed smack about how young folks thought they knew everything（Para.4）Over the years,the same memory bias keeps occurring,making it seem like kids道理论证are somehow failing more and more.In fact,the older a participant was,the more heavily this bias came into play.对比论证 （（P P a a r r a a..3 4） ）I I n n t ah ne o ts ht eu rd y s,t a r ge es e oa fr c t h h ee r ss t ul o do yk,e t d he a a t.u..thors assigned random scores...

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