If your preschoolers turn up their noses at carrots or celery, a small reward like a sticker(贴画) for taking even a taste may help get them to eat previously disliked foods, a UK study said.
Though it might seem obvious that a reward could encourage young children to eat their vegetables, the idea is actually controversial, researchers wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. That’s because some studies have shown that rewards can backfire and cause children to lose interest in foods they already liked, said Jane Wardle, a researcher at University College London who worked on the study. Verbal praise, such as “Brilliant! You’re a great vegetable taster”, did not work as well.
The study found that when parents gave their small children a sticker each time they took a “tiny taste” of a disliked vegetable, it gradually changed their attitudes. The children were also willing to eat more of the vegetables—either carrots, celery, cucumber, red pepper, cabbage or sugar snap peas—in laboratory taste tests, the study said.
Researchers randomly assigned (分派) 173 families to one of these groups. In one, parents used stickers to reward their children each time they took a tiny sample of a disliked vegetable. A second group of parents used verbal praise. The third group, where Parents used no special vegetable-promoting methods, served as a “control”.
Parents in the reward groups offered their children a taste of the “target” vegetable every day for 12 days. Soon after, children in the sticker group were giving higher ratings to the vegetables—and were willing to eat more in the research lab, going from an average of 5 grams at the start to about 10 grams after the 12-day experience. The turnaround(转机) also seemed to last, with preschoolers in the sticker group still willing to eat more of the once-disliked vegetable three months later.
Why didn’t the verbal praise work? Wardle said the parents’ words may have seemed “insincere” to their children.
小题1:The purpose of writing the passage is .
A．to show the procedure of an experiment on children’s diet
B．to introduce a practical method of making children eat vegetables
C．to explain why children hate to eat vegetables
D．to present a proper way of verbal praise to parents小题2:The underlined word “backfire” in Paragraph 2 probably means “_______”.
A．shoot from behind the back
B．make a fire in the backyard
C．produce an unexpected result
D．achieve what was planned小题3:Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A．Most children are born to dislike carrots or celery.
B．Children in the sticker group will never lose interest in eating vegetables.
C．Oral praise works quite well in encouraging children to eat vegetables.
D．It remains a question whether rewarding is a good way to get children to eat vegetables.小题4:What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A．Children like rewards, not verbal praise.
B．Parents should give up verbal praise.
C．Children are difficult to inspire.
D．Parents should praise their children in a sincere tone.
小题1:B
小题2:C
小题3:D
小题4:D
题目分析：如果你的孩子不喜欢吃蔬菜，像贴画这样的一个小小的奖励能够让孩子变得对原先不喜欢的蔬菜产生兴趣。当然，这项研究仍然存在争议。
小题1:根据“a small reward like a sticker(贴画) for taking even a taste may help get them to eat previously disliked foods ...The study found that when parents gave their small children a sticker each time they took a “tiny taste” of a disliked vegetable, it gradually changed their attitudes. ...Researchers randomly assigned (分派) 173 families to one of these groups.”可知，文章主要讲的是一项研究的成果，给孩子一些物质奖励能够引导他们改掉不喜欢吃蔬菜的习惯。故选B。
小题2:根据第一段“If your preschoolers turn up their noses at carrots or celery”可知，这只是一个假设的情况，排除A；根据“the idea is actually controversial”可知，这项研究是有争议的，根据“rewards can...cause children to lose interest in foods they already liked”可知，奖励可能会使孩子对喜欢的食物失去兴趣，由and表并列可知，backfire指的是不好的事情，在此意为“适得其反”，故选C。
小题3:根据倒数第二段“The turnaround(转机) also seemed to last, with preschoolers in the sticker group still willing to eat more of the once-disliked vegetable three months later”可知，这种转机似乎可以持续很久，但并未提到爱吃蔬菜的习惯永远不会消失，排除B；根据最后一段“Why didn’t the verbal praise work?”可知，口头表扬没有起作用，排除C；故选D。
小题4:根据最后一段“Why didn’t the verbal praise work? Wardle said the parents’ words may have seemed “insincere” to their children.”口头表扬不起作用，是因为父母的口头表扬不够真诚。由此可见，父母在表扬孩子时，要使用真诚的语气。可知，故选D。