My son and a bunch of his 13-year-old friends piled into the back seat of my car, ready for the last-day-of-school party at McDonald’s on report card day last year. “Jack got a laptop for getting straight A’s, and Laurie got a cell phone,” one boy said. “Oh, yeah, and Sarah got an iPod Nano, and she’s only in third grade,” said another. “And how about Brian? He got $ 10 for each A.”
I suddenly became concerned. These payoffs might get parents through grammar school, but what about high school and beyond? What would be left after the electric guitar, the cell phone, and the portable DVD player?
I saw the road ahead: As the homework load increased, my income would decrease. I saw my comfortable lifestyle disappear before my eyes — no more of those $5 bags of already-peeled organic carrots. No more organic anything!
I started to feel surprised and nervous. Would every goal attained by my two children fetch a reward? A high grade point average? A good class ranking? Would sports achievements be included in this reward system: soccer goals, touchdowns, runs-batted-in? What about orchestra? Would first chair pay more than second? I’d be penniless by eighth-grade graduation.
“We never paid anything for good grades,” said my neighbor across the street, whose son was recently accepted at MIT. “He just did it on his own. Maybe once in a while we went out for pizza, but that’s about it.”
Don’t you just hate that? We’re all running around looking for the MP3 player with the most updates, and she’s spending a few dollars on pizza. She gets motivation; we get negotiation.
46．Why did the writer suddenly become concerned?
A．Because many kids were getting very good grade at school.
B．Because he was worried about the current reword system.
C．Because he wasn’t making enough money to buy things for his kids’ good grades. D．Because kids were having too many parties after school.
47．The underlined sentence “As the homework load increased, my income would decrease.” (in
Paragraph 3) probably means that _________.
A．taking care of the children would influence my work
B．I would spend more money on my children’s homework
C．reducing children’s homework load would cost me a lot
D．more rewards would be needed as the children grew up
48．The example of the author’s neighbor shows that _________.
A．pizza is the best way to encourage children
B．the author’s neighbor was very poor
C．reward is not the only way to encourage children
D．the son of the author’s neighbor’s didn’t like reward
49．It can be inferred from the passage that _________.
A．children would think that you should if you pay them for good grades
B．children would work harder if you buy them pizza for good grades
C．children would not ask for rewards when they enter high school
D．children would not ask for rewards when they enter university
50．What is the author’s attitude toward paying children reward for good grades?
A．Helpful. B．Uncertain. C．Unpleasant. D．Unknowable.
