Question

Having a teenager at home can be a real headache. Many teenagers smoke, wear strange hairstyle and even fight. Generally , they are often taking risks.

Earlier studies have shown that teenagers are more likely to make irrational decisions than people from any other age group, including children and adults. Is it that teenagers are too young to tell right from wrong? Not really. So what’s the reason?

According to Laurence, a teacher from a US university, the reason is that teenagers care a lot about how their peers (同齡人) view them—that is “peer influence”.

As children enter their teenage years, they spend more time with their friends and classmates, and also they care more about what they think of them. This makes teenagers make decisions without thinking about the costs.

In a test, a group of teenagers were asked to play a video driving game. When they played with their friends watching around them, they took more chances and drove more carelessly because that would increase their possibility of winning. But when they played alone, they drove more safely.

Why do peers have such a big influence on teens’ behavior?

As Laurence sees it, a teenager’s brain is like a car with a good accelerator (油門) but a weak brake (剎車). The “accelerator” is fully developed by teenage years while the “brake” is still not fully developed. When teenagers are watched by their peers, they usually push hard on the accelerator. With their weak brake, it is likely that they are going to end up in an accident.

But the good news is that a violent teenager doesn’t necessarily become a violent adult. About two-thirds to three-quarters of violent youth grow out of it. “They get more self-controlled.”

1.What does the underlined word “irrational” in the 2nd paragraph probably mean?

A. Quick. B. Crazy. C. Careful. D. Correct.

2.According to the passage, teenagers often take risks because_____________.

A. They like challenging themselves. B. They are too young to tell right from wrong.

C. They don’t think about costs. D. They care about what their peers think of them.

3.How does Laurence explain the influence of peer influence on teens’ behavior?

A. By using a metaphor (比喻). B. By giving real examples.

C. By presenting research results. D. By doing experiments.

4.We can learn from the text that _____________________.

A. teenagers are easy to have traffic accidents.

B. peer influence has a good influence on teenagers.

C. most of the teenagers become less violent when they grow up.

D. teenagers shouldn’t spend all the free time with their friends.

1.B 2.D 3.A 4.C 【解析】本文向讀者介紹了為什么青少年更容易做出一些瘋狂的行為以及“同齡人影響”對(duì)青少年產(chǎn)生的作用。 1.句意：第2段中帶下劃線的詞語(yǔ)irrational可能意味著什么？A.快的B.瘋狂的 C.小心的D.正確的。原文“Earlier studies have shown that teenagers are more likely to ...

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