阅读理解

　　Many people have described television as a passive activity that is harmful to children’s education．However, there are good and bad ways to watch television．Parents who are interested in exploiting television as a learning tool can actually turn time in front of TV into an educational chance．

　　Probably the most familiar educational way to use television is to simply watch educational programs．In particular, this means selecting channels and programs specially designed for educational purposes．Along with traditional educational shows for children on public broadcasting channels, cable television(有线电视)now offers kids and adults a wide variety of educational programs, with everything from nature shows to historical events in different countries．

　　Captioning(字幕), such as “closed captioning” for hearing disabled viewers provides another way for parents to exploit the educational possibilities of television．One study showed that children who watched captioned TV got great improvement in their vocabulary and oral reading ability．In addition, parents can make any show a learning class by watching television together with children．By actively joining children in the programs that they are watching, parents can help with the development of such skills as predicting(预见)and summarizing．In order to develop predicting skills, parents and children could first refer to a program’s description in a viewing guide．After reading the program description and guessing what might happen in the program, parents and children could watch together to see which predictions were correct．And to practice summarizing, after watching a program, parents can turn off the TV and ask what the story was about．This kind of activity helps children develop thinking skills such as arranging events in an order and memorizing information．

　　Although there will still be plenty of times when children watch TV simply for passive enjoyment, parents can help make at least part of their children’s viewing time a more productive activity．Used intelligently by exploiting the learning chances available through various programs, television can play an instructive role in children’s education．