Parenting is never easy. But today’s parents have to grapple with (努力应付) technology in a way that no other generation has ever had to before.A new study from the Family Online Safety Institute has found that most parents think that technology has a generally positive effect on their child’s future, career and life skills; 78 percent of those surveyed said so. But many are still grappling with figuring out how—or even if—they should limit their children’s tech use. Many, for example, said that they worry that as their kids use more technology, they’re not as physically active.But there was also a slight dip in the number of parents who said they feel they have a handle on what their kids are up to online. And 55 percent said that they let a child under the age of 12 open a social networking account—something that is only allowed for kids 13 and up.“That’s a rather challenging figure,” said the safety institute’s executive director, Stephen Balkam, whose organization designed the “Good Digital Parenting” initiative (倡议) to educate parents about how to deal with this brave new world. Organizations such as his, he said, as well as technology firms and the government must do more to educate parents about exploiting the benefits—and avoiding the dangers—of the online world.The challenge of educating parents is exacerbated (恶化) by the fact that the technology is changing so quickly. Just think about it: Facebook is just shy of 11 years old. The iPhone is eight. (Were either of those products human, they wouldn’t technically be allowed to have their own social networking profiles.) And the iPad, which kicked off a tablet revolution, is just five years old—yet 70 percent of households with children younger than 12 say their kids are using tablets.22. What does “dip” underlined in the third paragraph mean?A. Insert.B. Merit.C. Increase.D. Decline.
Parenting is never easy. But today’s parents have to grapple with (努力应付) technology in a way that no other generation has ever had to before.
A new study from the Family Online Safety Institute has found that most parents think that technology has a generally positive effect on their child’s future, career and life skills; 78 percent of those surveyed said so. But many are still grappling with figuring out how—or even if—they should limit their children’s tech use. Many, for example, said that they worry that as their kids use more technology, they’re not as physically active.
But there was also a slight dip in the number of parents who said they feel they have a handle on what their kids are up to online. And 55 percent said that they let a child under the age of 12 open a social networking account—something that is only allowed for kids 13 and up.
“That’s a rather challenging figure,” said the safety institute’s executive director, Stephen Balkam, whose organization designed the “Good Digital Parenting” initiative (倡议) to educate parents about how to deal with this brave new world. Organizations such as his, he said, as well as technology firms and the government must do more to educate parents about exploiting the benefits—and avoiding the dangers—of the online world.
The challenge of educating parents is exacerbated (恶化) by the fact that the technology is changing so quickly. Just think about it: Facebook is just shy of 11 years old. The iPhone is eight. (Were either of those products human, they wouldn’t technically be allowed to have their own social networking profiles.) And the iPad, which kicked off a tablet revolution, is just five years old—yet 70 percent of households with children younger than 12 say their kids are using tablets.
22. What does “dip” underlined in the third paragraph mean?
A. Insert.
B. Merit.
C. Increase.
D. Decline.
题目解答
答案
解析
本题考查根据上下文猜测单词词义的能力。解题的关键在于结合文章中关于父母对孩子在线活动了解情况的描述，来推断“dip”一词的含义。
- 首先，文章提到“there was also a slight dip in the number of parents who said they feel they have a handle on what their kids are up to online”，这里描述的是声称自己能掌控孩子在线活动的父母数量的变化情况。
- 接着，结合后文提到的一些问题，如很多父母在限制孩子使用科技产品方面存在困惑，以及部分父母让12岁以下孩子开设社交网络账户等，说明父母在孩子在线活动管理方面面临挑战，整体情况是不太乐观的。
- 由此可以推断，声称能掌控孩子在线活动的父母数量应该是减少的。
- 对各选项进行分析：
- A选项“Insert”意为“插入”，与父母数量的变化无关，不符合语境。
- B选项“Merit”意为“优点；功绩”，也与父母数量的变化不相关，不符合语境。
- C选项“Increase”意为“增加”，与我们推断的数量减少的情况相反，不符合语境。
- D选项“Decline”意为“下降；减少”，符合我们对父母数量变化的推断，是正确的。