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the school. If this has happened, by all means, act as an advocate for your child! If your child has committed a rule infraction, deal with it immediately and resolutely. Make sure he knows you support the school and their decision, that any further problem will lead to a greater consequence and then choose the punishment (if needed) to fit the crime. Double Jeopardy: If you are in trouble at school, then you are in twice as much trouble at home. At the very least, a genuine rule infraction shows a lack of respect for leaders, society and rules.

One day, I was in another school teaching, I received a call from the middle school principal of our middle son. I was to come up to the school right away – he had been taken out of class for possession of a weapon! I was beside myself and flew down to the school. Many, many questions raced through my mind – how did he get a weapon, why had he taken a weapon to school? I‘m sure you agree that as parents, students and administrators, we have to take any kind of a threat seriously. By the time I arrived at the school, I was in tears and literally sick to my stomach. I couldn‘t believe my child could do anything like this.

Walking on shaky limbs to the principal‘s office, I asked for the principal and also asked to see my son, who I was sure, was in custody someplace. He had in fact, been taken into a side room and left to think about what he‘d done until I arrived. Prior to even speaking with a school administrator, I was given the opportunity to speak with him first. Jason explained to me that he had taken a paper clip, bent it like a sling-shot, wound a rubber band between the spikes and rolled a paper ball to shoot at other students and a teacher. I was so relieved, I almost laughed!

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Although extremely difficult, I spoke with the principal in somber tones, assuring him I would take care of the situation and it would not repeat itself. Taking Jason by the hand and leading him out of the school, we had a conversation about how simple items could cause harm to classmates and teachers – so were absolutely verboten. I also chose to remind him I‘d been in the principal‘s office more as a mother then I ever was as a student – then we shared a laugh together over his weapon! The situation was never repeated.

Jason had no intention of harming anyone, but he was also made to see the severity of what could have happened. I also think sharing a laugh with him over the surprise he felt when he found out I had been told he had a weapon was cathartic and helped break the tension, and was bonding. This small infraction could have been blown out of proportion and ruined an entire evening for nothing. A major part of parenting is knowing your own child and what their true intentions are. Jason‘s intentions were to get out of class for causing a disturbance again – and he did so. I was perhaps more angry about his success at that than anything.

To all of you weary parents, I say, take heart! Parenting is not a popularity contest – we would surely lose! Discipline with love, and the beautiful garden you grow will be worth the work as it matures and blooms!

Questions for comprehension

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Why was the father in a bad mood at the beginning of this text? What kind of lesson has the couple learned from the military? What does the expression double jeopardy in para.5 mean?

What is the writer‘s attitude towards kids‘ infraction of school rules?

What is the weapon Jason held at school? What were his intentions of doing so?

Skimming and scanning

Read the following passage and answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words.

Great emotional and intellectual resources are demanded in quarrels; stamina helps, as does a capacity for obsession. But no one is born a good quarreler; the craft must be learned.

There are two generally recognized apprenticeships. First, and universally preferred, is a long childhood spent in the company of fractious siblings. After several years of rainy afternoons, brothers and sisters develop a sure feel for the tactics of attrition and the niceties of strategy so necessary in first-rate quarrelling.

The only child, or the child of peaceful or repressed households, is likely to grow up failing to understand that quarrels, unlike arguments, are not about anything, least of all the pursuit of truth. The apparent subject of a quarrel is a mere pretext; the real business is the quarrel itself.

Essentially, adversaries in a quarrel are out to establish or rescue their dignity. Hence the elementary principle; anything may be said. The unschooled, probably no less quarrelsome by

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inclination than anyone else, may spend an hour with knocking heart, sifting the consequences of calling this old acquaintance a lying fraud. Too late! With a cheerful wave the old acquaintance has left the room.

Those who miss their first apprenticeship may care to enroll in the second, the bad marriage. This can be perilous for the neophyte; the mutual intimacy of spouses makes them at once more vulnerable and more dangerous in attack. Once sex is involved, the stakes are higher all round. And there is an unspoken rule that those who love, or have loved, one another are granted a license for unlimited beastliness such as is denied to mere sworn enemies. For all that, some of our most tenacious black belt quarrelers have come to it late in life and mastered every throw, from the Crushing Silence to the Gloating Apology, in less than ten years of marriage.

A quarrel may last years among brooding types with time on their hands, like writers, half a lifetime is not uncommon. In its most refined form, a quarrel may consist of the participants not talking to e …… 此处隐藏：5722字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……