Are kids getting too much praise？ Too much praise may be doing kids more harm than good．
A cover story in Scholastic Instructor magazine asks whether kids today are over﹣praised． The concern is that while trying to build up kids' confidence（自信），parents are paying little attention to kids' real goals and achievements． In a recent study， eighth graders in Korea and the United States were asked whether they were good at math． Among the American students， 39 percent said they were excellent at math， compared to just 6 percent of the Korean eighth graders． But the reality was somewhat different． The Korean kids scored far better than the over﹣confident American students．
The disadvantage of too much praise is that kids may start to focus on the reward rather than what they are learning， Worse， when a student fails， whose confidence comes from a blind sense of achievement rather than his or her actual abilities， the result can be devastating（毁灭性的）．This doesn't mean we shouldn't praise our kids or that teachers shouldn't try to build up their students 5 self﹣confidence． But self﹣confidence should be the result of good grades and real achievements， not empty praise from others．
Last month， Cognitive Daily reported that parents and teachers should be specific rather than general when they offer praise． An example of general praise is telling a child， "You're smart．" Specific praise would be to say， "You did a good job on reading．， or "You did great on your math test．" Kids who receive general praise about their abilities are more likely to show "helpless" behavior when they meet with problems with learning， compared with kids who receive specific praise about their achievement on a task． The reason： a child who knows she's a smart girl feels defeated（挫败的）if she has trouble reading a sentence． But a child who has been told she is a good reader is more likely to have confidence in that specific ability and work a little harder to deal with a more difficult book．
（1）What can we learn from the study of the eighth graders in Paragraph 2？
A． American students are over﹣praised．
B． Over﹣confident students may achieve less．
（2）According to Paragraph 3， kids' self﹣confidence should come from ．
A． teachers 5 love and support
B． what they get from parents
C． a blind sense of achievement
D． what they are able to do well
（3）Which of the following best explains "specific" underlined in Paragraph 4？
A． Exact．
B． Careful．
C． Scientific．
D． Professional
（4）What will kids getting general praise do in the face of problems with learning？
A． Ask others for advice．
B． Probably give up easily．
C． Work them out alone．
D． Work harder than before．
（5）In which part of a newspaper would you most probably read the text？
A． Travel．
B． Business．
C．Education．
D． Energy．
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