阅读理解。
Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money,
parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the United States or Australia.
They also want their children to take extra- course (额外课程) activities where they will either leam music or
dance,or other classes that will give them a head start in life. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an
education is, the better it is. So parents will spend an unreasonable amount of money on education. Even poor
couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter.
However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually
very cheap. Parents can see that their children's skills are different, maybe skilled in some areas while poor in
others. What most parents fail to realize though, is that today's children are in need of self-respect and
self-confidence. The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take tests and how to
study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills they need to be confident, happy and
clever.
Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework.
Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking requires
patience and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking,
so he will leam to work hard and gradually finish his job successfully. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give
him much satisfaction and a lot of self-confidence.
Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him
curious (好奇的) and have interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might
become an engineer when he grows up. These activities are not only teaching a child to read a book, but rather
to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.
1. Most Chinese parents don't realize ____.
A. how much the best education is worth
B. when children should be educated
C. what children really need in later life
D. why school tests don't satisfy children
2. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
A. Leaming to think is very important.
B. Interest is necessary for everything.
C. Broken things are useful for children.
D. Using hands helps improve thinking ability.
3. The writer's attitude to children's education is that ____.
A. the cheaper an education is, the better it is
B. children today should leam different skills
C. practical skills are helpful to children's growth
D. school education can't meet parents' expectations
