If your preschoolers turn up their noses at carrots or celery, a small reward like a sticker for taking even a taste may help get them to eat previously disliked foods, a UK study said. Though it might seem obvious that a reward could encourage young children to eat their vegetables, the idea is actually controversial, researchers wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. That's because some studies have shown that rewards can _ and cause children to lose interest in foods they already liked, said Jane Wardle, a researcher at University College London who worked on the study. Verbal praise, such as "Brilliant! You're a great vegetable taster," did not work as well. The study found t hat when parents gave their small children a sticker each time they took a "tiny taste" of a disliked vegetable, it gradually changed their attitudes. The children were also willing to eat more of the vegetables-either carrots, celery, cucumber, red pepper, cabbage or sugar snap peas-in laboratory taste tests, the study said. Researchers randomly assigned 173 families to one of these groups. In one, parents used stickers to reward their children each time they took a tiny sample of a disliked vegetable. A second group of parents used verbal praise. The third group, where parents used no special vegetable-promoting methods, served as a "control". Parents in the reward groups offered their children a taste of the "target" vegetable every day of 12 days, Soon after, children in the sticker group were giving higher ratings to the vegetables-and were willing to eat more in the research lab, going from an average of 5 grams at the start to about 10 grams after the 12-day experience. The turnaround also seemed to last, with preschoolers in the sticker group still willing to eat more of the once disliked vegetable three months later. Why didn't the verbal praise work? Wardle said the parents' words may have seemed "insincere" to their children. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true? A) Most children are born to dislike carrots or celery. B) It remains a question whether rewarding is a good way to get children to eat vegetables. C) Oral praise wokrs quite well in encouraging children to eat vegetables. D) Children in the sticker group will never lose interest in eating vegetables.
B
It was a Black Day for love in South Korea on Monday with lonely hearts trying to ease their pain by diving head first into bowls of noodles. South Korea celebrates Valentine ' s Day, where local custom dictates women give gifts to men. It has taken on a popular event born in Japan but sweeping Asia known as White Day on March 14 when men return the favor with gifts for women. But Black Day, on April 14, is a South Korean original. It is marked by people who have not found love dressing in dark color1s and commiserating over meals of black food, with the dish of choice being Chinese-style noodles topped with a thick sauce of black bean paste. "I had a miserable time on Valentine ' s Day, felt even lonelier on White Day and now I' m crying over a bowl of' black noodles," said a young woman, "Things better be different next year. At universities across the country on Monday, students without lunch dates ordered black noodles, dined with other lonely hearts and searched for companionship, South Korea marketers have used special days for the 14th of each month to create a calendar full of love. Some days have gained attraction such as Black Day, while others such as Green Day in August, when couples are supposed to drink cheap wine that comes in green bottles and walk in the woods, have yet to attract much of a following. Black Day events have snowballed, with a major matchmaking service this year providing an evening of speed dating where the dish of choice is sushi blackened by squid ink. An on-line company for movie tickets sponsored a speed eating competition of black noodles for those who bought single tickets for the latest films. "It is depressing enough going to the movies by yourself," said Shin Youn-joo of the company called Max Movie. "We just wanted to spread a little joy to the singles ." The speed eating competition of black noodles is held to . A) find out who is the strongest B) give some joy to the singles C) help people understand the film D) attract more people to the film
B
On a cool November afternoon in Fleming Island, Florida, Melissa Hawkinson, 41, was driving her five-year-old twins home from school when she saw a sudden splash in Doctors Lake just ahead. What was that? She thought. As she drove up to the scene, she saw a half-submerged car sinking about 30 yards offshore. "It was going down pretty quickly," Hawkinson recalls. She stopped the car near the boat ramp and ran toward the water. Water is going to be cold, she thought. She took off her vest and leather boots, got into the icy water, and swam to the car, where she found Cameron Dorsey, five, trapped into his car as the swirling water rose around him. Hawkinson tried to open the door, but it was locked. So she pushed and pulled hard on the partially open window until she could reach through and unlock the door. She pulled the boy free, swam to shore, and handed him off to onlookers who were only watching them on a dock. The driver, the boy's suicidal father, swam back to land on his own. Afterward, Hawkinson sat on the shore wrapped in a blanket. "For ten or 15 minutes, I couldn't stop shaking," she said. There's nothing visibly extraordinary about Melissa Hawkinson, an energetic stay-at-home mom with brown hair and a sweet smile. Yet something made her different from the dockside onlookers that day. Why do some people act quickly, willing to take a risk for a stranger? What makes them run toward danger rather than away from it? Hawkinson, the Granite Mountain Hotshots (,)---19 of whom lost their life this past summer in Arizona--- every hero who puts his or her life on the line to save another: what makes them brave? Moreover, can bravery be learned, or is it a quality with which you are born? The answer is complex. Bravery taps the mind, brain and heart. It comes from instinct, training and sympathy. Today, neurologists, psychologists and other researchers are studying bravery, trying to uncover the mystery. It can be learned from the passage that _ . A) Melissa Hawkinson was a 41-year-old nurse B) it was spring when the accident happened C) Melissa Hawkinson was picking up her five-year-old son D) Melissa Hawkinson was kind and courageous.
D