A
If parents bring up a child with the aim of turning the child into a genius (天才), they will cause great damage to him. According to several leading educational experts, this is one of the biggest mistakes that some parents make. Generally, the child will understand very well what the parents expect, and will fall. Unrealistic (不现实的) expectations of the parents can cause great damage to children.
However, if parents are not unrealistic about what they expect their children to do, but are hopeful in a sensible(明智的) way, the child may succeed in doing very well — especially if the parents are very supportive to their children.
Michael Lis is very lucky. He is very fond of music and his parents help him a lot by taking him to concerts and let him attend piano and violin lessons. Although Michael's mother knows very little about music, his father is a good musician. However, he never makes Michael enter music competitions if he is unwilling.
Michael's friend, Winston Chen, however, is not so lucky. Although both his parents are successful musicians, they set too high a standard for Winston. They want their son to be as successful as they are and so they enter him for every piano competition held. They are very unhappy when he does not win. “When I was your age I used to win every competition I enter.” Winston's father tells him. Winston is always afraid that he will disappoint his parents and now he is always quiet and unhappy.
【语篇解读】 本文是一篇议论文，父母在抚养孩子的过程中，对孩子期望过高会对孩子的成长和发展造成伤害，并举了两个例子来说明父母的正确做法是什么，对孩子有什么好处；错误做法会对孩子造成什么样的伤害。
1．The main idea of the passage is ________.
A．what differences there are between parents
B．what aim of a child can he easier to reach
C．what parents should make a child a musician
D．how parents should bring up their children
答案与解析：D 主旨大意题。本文主要说的是父母在抚养孩子的过程中，对孩子期望过高，会对孩子的成长和发展造成伤害，并举例说明了父母的正确做法。
2．Michael is lucky because ________.
A．his parents help him in a sensible way
B．his family is rich enough to have a car
C．his father is a successful musician
D．he is free to do anything he likes best
答案与解析：A 推理判断题。根据第二段中的“but are hopeful in a．.. supportive to their children”可知是好的父母的做法，而第三段接着举例说明了这个好的做法。
3．Winston's parents set so high a standard for him that ________.
A．he has to do his best to do everything
B．he had made greater progress in music
C．he is afraid he may disappoint them
D．he often wants to kill himself someday
答案与解析：C 推理判断题。根据最后一段中的“Winston is always afraid that he will disappoint his parents and now he is always quiet and unhappy.”可知答案。
4．It is one of the parents' worst mistakes if they ________.
A．want their child to be a musician
B．make their child try to achieve too much
C．don't care their child's education much
D．help their child to win music competitions
答案与解析：B 细节理解题。根据第一段中的“If parents bring up a child... that some parents make.”可知答案。
