Many parents who welcome the idea of turning off the TV and spending more time with the family are still worried that without TV they would be too often on call as entertainers（娱乐者） for their children．They remember thinking up all sorts of things to do when they were children．But their own children seem different, less good at finding things to pass the time, somehow．When there’s nothing to do, these parents notice regretfully that their children seem unable to come up with anything to do besides turning on the TV．
One father, for example, says, “When I was young, we were always thinking up things to do, projects and games．We certainly never complained in an angry way to our parents, ‘I have nothing to do”．He compares this with his own children today: “They are simply lazy．If someone doesn’t play with them, they’ll happily sit there watching TV all day．”
There is one word for this father’s disappointment: unfair．It is as if he were disappointed in them for not reading Greek though they have never studied the language．He feels his children’s lack of inventiveness a great pity, as if the ability to play were something born that his children are missing．In fact, the tendency（倾向） to play is built into the human species, but the actual ability to play—to imagine, to invent in a playful way, and the ability to gain satisfaction after successful effort from it—these are skills that have to be learned and developed．
Such disappointment, however, is not only unjust, it is also destructive（毁灭性的）．Sensing their parents’ disappointment, children come to believe that they are, indeed, lacking something, and that this makes them less worthy of admiration and respect．Giving children the chance to develop new things to enjoy themselves, to enrich their knowledge and experience and discover the pleasure of doing things on their own is, on the other hand, a way to help children develop a confident（自信）feeling about themselves as able and interesting people．
小题1:Many people think that, instead of watching a lot of TV, their children should_______．
A．think up things to enjoy themselves
B．find chances to talk with parents
C．enjoy themselves outdoors
D．sit silently studying Greek小题2:Fathers often blame their children for not being able to play by themselves．This is unfair because________．
A．they do not lack the ability to play
B．they have not been given the opportunities to learn and develop their ability
C．the children are too young to do that
D．the children are not really lazy, but there’s nothing for them to do小题3:When 
paren
ts show continuous disappointment in their children, the children will________．
A．be more disappointed
B．refuse to learn new things
C．discover the pleasures of doing things on their own
D．lose their conf
idence and respectability小题4:What is the author’s main idea?
A．Parents should give children more help on how to be inventive．
B．Turning off the TV will help us solve a lot of family problems．
C．It’s not right for parents and children to blame（抱怨） each other．
D．Today’s children are becoming less able and independent than before．
