Children are natural scientists. They are interested in looking into the world around them. Helping them enjoy science can be easy; there’s no need for a lot of expensive lab tools. You only have to share your children’s curiosity(好奇).

Firstly, listen to their questions. I once visited a classroom of seven-year-old students to talk about working as a scientist. The children asked me questions about schooling and whether I liked my job. When I finished answering, we sat facing one another quietly. Finally I said, “Now that we’ve finished, do you have questions of your own about science?”

After a long pause, a boy put up his hand, “Have you ever seen a grasshopper(蚂蚱) eat? When I try eating leaves like that, I get a stomachache. Why?” This began a set of questions that lasted nearly two hours.

Secondly, give them time to think. Studies have shown that, after asking a question, adults usually wait only one second or less for an answer, do not leave time for children to think. When adults increase their “wait time” to three seconds or more, children can give more logical(合逻辑的), complete and creative answers.

Thirdly, watch your language. Once you have a child telling his idea in a science discussion, don’t jump in with “That’s right. ” or “Very good. ”. These words work well when it comes to encouraging good behavior. But in talking about science, quick praise can mean that discussion is over. Instead, you can say “That’s interesting. ” or “I’d never thought of it that way before. ” or come up with more questions or ideas.

Never push a child to “Think”. Children are always thinking, without your telling them to. What’s more, this can turn a conversation into a performance. The child will try to find the answer you want in as few words as possible, so that he will be a smaller target(目标)for your disagreement.

Lastly, show; don’t tell. Real-life feeling of nature is far more exciting than any lesson children learn from a book. Let children look at their fingertips(指尖) through a magnifying lens(放大镜), and they’ll understand why you want them to wash before dinner.

(   )53. When children are in a science discussion, adults should ________.

A. speak highly of the children.

B. praise the children immediately

C. end up their discussion with “That’s interesting”

D. leave time for them to come up with better ideas

(   )54. What does “this” refer to in the 6th paragraph?

A. Pushing children to think.

B. Finding the answer you want.

C. Talking about science.

D. Telling children to discuss.

(   )55. These are the ways for adults to share children’s curiosity EXCEPT ________.

A. telling them encouraging stories instead of boring facts  

B. offering them chances to see things by themselves

C. being patient when the children answer questions     

D. persuading them to ask the questions of their own

根据短文内容和首字母提示，在下文空格处填入适当的词使短文完整。

Because of different reasons, I could neither go abroad nor attend a language course to improve my English. So, I finally (66)d    ___ to read books in English. I chose Irving’s novel A widow for One Year.

　　What was my experience (67)l    __? Very challenging（有挑战性的）! At the beginning, I tried to stop thinking in Chinese about (68)w    ___ I was reading. I just kept reading instead of looking up the new words in the dictionary. At first it seemed to be (69)i   __ to read and understand without using a dictionary, but then I began to get the meaning (70)s    __. Finally, I was so interested in the wonderful characters and the surprising plot of the novel (71)t   __ I completely forgot that I was reading the book in English.

 　　(72)R    __ this novel was very good for my English learning. I found that Irving’s way of writing was very clear and easy to read. This made me feel really satisfied and encouraged me to read (73)m    __ other books (not only by Irving). I discovered that when you read a book in English you will stop thinking in your mother tongue at some point. It’s just as if you were there, inside the story, among the characters who speak English in the book.

Reading Irving’s novel also enabled me to learn a large (74 )n    __ of new words and expressions used in different contexts. It is really a good (75)w______ to improve our English.