Part B (20%) slation shouM be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2 (主观答题纸).
(41) There are plenty of grim statistics about childhood in the Third World. showing thatthe journey for survival is long and hard. But in the rich world, children can suffer from adifferent kind of poverty - of the spirit. For instance, one Western country alone now sees 14,000 attempted suicides every year by children under 15, and one child in five needsprofessional psychiatric counselling.
There are many good things about childhood in the Third World. Take the close andconstant contact between children and their parents, relatives and neighbours. In the West, the very nature of work puts distance between adults and children. (42) But itl most Third World villages mother and father do not go miles away each day to do abstract work in offices, shuffling paper to make money mysteriously appear in banks. Instead. the child sees mother an(t father, relations and neighbours working nearby, and often shares in that work.
A child growing up in this way learns his or her role through participating in the community's work: helping to dig or build, plant or water, tend to animals or look after babies - rather than through playing with water and sand in kindergarten, building with construction toys, keeping pets or playing with dolls.
(43) These children may grow up with a less oppressive limitation of space and time than their Western counterparts. Set days and times are few and self-explanatory, determined mostly by the rhythm of the seasons and the different jobs they bring. (44) A child in the rich world, on the other hand. is provided with a wrist-watch as one of the earliest symbols of ~owing up. so that he or she can worry, along with their parents about being late for school times, meal times clinic times, bed times, the times of TV shows……;
Third World children are not usually cooped up indoors, still less in high-rise apartments.Instead of fenced-off play areas, dangerous roads, 'keep off the grass' signs and 'don't speak tostrangers', there is often a sense of freedom to play. (45) Parents can see their children outsiderather than observe them anxiously from ten floors up. And other adults in the community canusually be counted on to be caring rather than indifferent or threatening.
Of course twelve million children under five still die every year through malnutrition anddisease. But children in the Third World is not all bad. Section m Writing (30%)
Teachers often consider some students as good students. What do you think good studentsare like? Describe the characteristics of good students according to your own opinion. Provideone or two examples where necessary. You may also need to use knowledge in education andpsychology to support your argument. You shouM write 240-280 words. Write your essay on ANSWER SHEET 2 (主观答题纸).
