Unit 10
Compound dictation
There are two kinds of juvenile delinquents. One is the status offender. This is a young person who have been truant, has run away from home, has not abided by parents’ rules, or has done something else that is ordinarily not considered criminal – except when done by a minor. If Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn were alive and active today, he would fit into this category perfectly.
The second kind of juvenile delinquent is one who has done something that is considered a crime no matter who commits it – like robbery, rape, or murder. If the young person is under the age of 16 or 18, depending on the different states, he or she is usually treated differently from an adult criminal. The court proceedings will probably not be public, the offender is likely to be tried and sentenced by a judge rather than a jury, and the sentence is usually more lenient. However, for some particularly violent crimes, minors may be tried as adults.
In recent years, arrests of people under 18 rose by 4%. People in this age group are responsible for a disproportionately high share of certain kinds of crimes. Boys are much more likely than girls to get into trouble with the law: for years, 4 or 5 boys were arrested for every girl. More recently the ratio has dropped to 3.5 to 1; but crime rates among girls are similar to rates among boys only for such status offenses as running away from home, incorrigibility, and engaging in sexual intercourse. Boys commit more of virtually all other offenses, especially violent offenses, and account for more than 90% of juveniles in correctional institutions. The increase among girls of such behaviors as drug abuse and running away from home apparently leads to the kinds of activities that support them, like shoplifting, robbery, larceny and prostitution.
Key
1. two kinds of 2. have been truant 3. abided by 4. something else 5. alive and active 6. robbery, rape, or murder 7. depending on 8. treated differently from 9. is likely to be 10. a judge rather than a jury 11. more lenient 12. may be tried as adults 13. under 18 rose by 4% 14. are responsible for 15. get into trouble 16. the ratio has dropped 17.are similar to 18. especially violent offenses 19. more than 90% 20. such behaviors as drug abuse
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Unit 11
Compound dictation
Humanistic theories have made a valuable contribution to promoting child-rearing approaches that respect every child’s uniqueness. Humanism is optimistic, positive model of humankind. It goes deeper than behaviorism by considering internal factors, such as feelings, values and hopes. Humanistic theories put emphasis on people’s ability to take charge of their lives and foster their own development. Abraham Maslow was one important humanistic psychologist in history. He identified a hierarchy of needs that motivate human behavior. According to Maslow, these needs operate on a number of levels, from basic survival up to the acme of psychological fulfillment. People must meet their most elemental needs first before they can strive to meet those on the next level, and so forth, until they reach the highest order of needs. Starving people, for example, will take great risks to obtain food; once they know they will live, they can worry about personal safety; once safe, they consider their need for love, and so forth. As each succeeding layer of needs is addressed, people look to the next higher level. Maslow’s ideal is the “self-actualized person,” who fulfills the loftiest level, attained by possibly 1 % of the world population.
A self-actualized person displays high levels of all the following characteristics: perception of reality; acceptance of self, of others, and of nature; spontaneity; problem-solving ability; self-direction; detachment and the desire for privacy; freshness of appreciation and richness of emotional reaction; frequency of peak experiences; identification with other human beings; satisfying and changing relationships with other people; a democratic character structure; creativity; and a sense of values. No one ever become completely self-actualized, but the person who is developing in a healthy way is always moving up to levels that are even more self-fulfilling. Key
1. made a valuable contribution to 2. optimistic, positive 3. feelings, values, and hopes 4. put emphasis on 5. foster their own development 6. a hierarchy of needs 7. a number of levels 8. psychological fulfillment 9. strive to meet 10. the highest order 11. take great risks 12. worry about personal safety 13. each succeeding layer 14. fulfills the loftiest level 15. all the following characteristics 16. problem-solving ability 17. freshness of appreciation 18. satisfying and changing 19. a sense of values 20. in a healthy way
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Unit 12
Compound dictation
In the United States, accidents are now the leading cause of death in childhood. At the top of the tragic list are deaths due to automobile accidents. Today, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have laws requiring young children to be restrained in cars, either in specially designed seats or by standard seat belts. Such laws are important: children not in restraints are 11 times more likely to die in a car accident than children who are restrained.
Legislation, however, does not ensure that children will use seat belts. Many children do not like them, and parents often give in. A recent study, however, found that children whose preschool teachers use songs, cartoons, and other aids to stress the importance of seat belts will, in fact, insist not only that they are buckled in, but that their parents fasten safety belts as well. Educating children brought better results than threatening parents with police checks and fines.
Most other accidents occur in and around the home: children drown in bathtubs and pools as well as lakes, rivers and oceans; are burned in fires and explosions; drink poisonous substances; choke on loose parts of toys; shoot each other playing with loaded guns; fall from heights; get caught in mechanical contrivances; and suffocate in unexpected traps like abandoned refrigerators.
Children are naturally venturesome and unaware of danger. Their innocence puts a large burden on parents and other caretakers, who must tread a delicate line between not protecting children and smothering them. The greatest burden, though, should be one society at large. Federal laws have already been passed requiring “child-proof” caps on medicine bottles, and minimum spacing between bars on cribs to prevent babies from getting caught and strangling.
One ironic development followed the passage of a national law requiring children’s sleepwear to be made flame-retardant. Further research suggested that the chemicals originally used in fireproofing the sleepwear might be carcinogenic, posing a different hazard. Thus, concerned citizens must be eternally vigilant to protect children.
Key
1. the leading cause of 2. due to automobile accidents 3. to be restrained 4. more likely to die 5. often give in 6. songs, cartoons, and other aids 7. fasten safety belts 8. in and around the home 9. lakes, rivers and oceans 10. poisonous substances 11. fall from heights 12. like abandoned refrigerator 13. unaware of danger 14. a large burden on 15. one society at large 16. minimum spacing 17. getting caught and strangling 18. the passage of a national law
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19. used in fireproofing
Unit 13
20. be eternally vigilant to
Compound dictation
Both abuse and neglect often have grave long-term consequences. Teenagers who failed to thrive in infancy are likely to have a variety of physical, intellectual and emotional problems, apparently due to the emotional neglect they suffered. Adults who were sexually abused when they were children are often fearful, anxious, depressed, angry, hostile, or aggressive. They frequently suffer from low self-esteem, are unable to trust people, and feel isolated and stigmatized. Not surprisingly, they tend to be sexually maladjusted themselves. They often engage in self-destructive behavior like drug abuse, or antisocial behavior like crime and they are likely to be raped or sexually assaulted as adults.
Abuse is most traumatic if a non-abusive parent is unsupportive on hearing of it, if the child is removed from the home, and if the child has suffered from more than one type of abuse. Many abused and neglected babies are surprisingly resilient, especially if there is a supportive grandparent or other family member to whom the baby can form an attachment. Two-thirds of abused children go on to take good care of their own children, only one-third perpetuate the vicious cycle of abuse. Those who become good parents are likely to have had more people caring for them to whom they could turn for help, and they are more likely to have a happy union or love relationship in adulthood. They are more openly angry about and better able to describe their own experience of abuse. Furthermore, they are more likely to have been abused by only one parent and to have had a loving, supportive relationship with one parent or a foster parent.
Growing up to become an abuser is far from an inevitable result of being abused as a child. The expectation that the one always causes the other seems to have led to a self-fulfilling prophecies in some cases; in other cases, parents who have broken the cycle feel like “walking time bombs,” ready to explode into violence against their own children. Key
1. grave long-term consequences 2. a variety of 3. apparently due to 4. fearful, anxious, depressed 5. unable to trust people 6. often engage in 7. antisocial behavior 8. most traumatic 9. removed from the home 10. surprisingly resilient 11. other family member 12. take good care of 13. the vicious cycle of abuse 14. caring for them
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15. a happy union 17. one parent or a foster parent 19. to have led to
Unit 14
16. describe their own experience 18. an inevitable result 20. ready to explode
Compound dictation
Parents, of course, are influenced by the culture they have grown up in and so will treat sons and daughters differently. The differences in their treatment of sons and daughters are even more pronounced in early childhood than in infancy.
Parents tend to socialize boys more intensely than girls – to punish them more, but also to praise and encourage them more. Parents are more likely to pressure boys to act like real boys and avoid acting like girls than they are to pressure girls to avoid masculine behavior and act in feminine ways. Girls have had much more freedom in the clothes they wear, the games they play, and the people they play with.
Why do many adults seem to show more interest in boys? Even in this supposedly enlightened age, many parents seem to think that boys are more important and that it therefore matters more how they turn out. It is also possible, however, that boys’ greater resistance to parents’ guidance demands more attention. No matter what the cause of this different treatment, its result is the accentuation of personality differences between males and females. This attitude seems to be changing as adult roles in society change.
Young children also get message about “sex-appropriate” behavior from differences in the way their mothers and fathers act. Fathers, more than mothers, engage in active, physical play and encourage children’s performance on tasks. They also dominate conversation more, telling their children what to do and interrupting them more often. As a result, children observe two different styles of behavior – and in the process of identification are likely to adopt the style of the same-sex parent. Changing parents’ attitudes is often hard, but it should be done.
Key
1. are influenced by 3. even more pronounced 5. praise and encourage 7. avoid masculine behavior 9. show more interest in 11. how they turn out 13. personality differences 15. in the way 17. As a result 19. adopt the style of
2. sons and daughters differently 4. more intensely than 6. pressure boys to act 8. much more freedom 10. more important 12. greater resistance to 14. as adult roles
16. active, physical play 18. in the process of 20. is often hard
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