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British children: stressed and depressed

An article by the Week, 23 September 2006

1. Fill in each gap with ONE WORD only. You must think of the word. You

have no help. (8 marks)

Ever ________ the time of the ancient Romans, old men have complained that the
world is going to the dogs,” said The Independent. Today is no ________ . Last week
more than 100 experts wrote an open ________ in which they were warning that the
innocence of childhood was being poisoned by a mixture of junk ________, competitive
schooling and overdependence on electronic entertainment. The Archbishop of
Canterbury added his voice this week, complaining about the advertising aimed at the
________ . Some of these concerns are justified, but there is no ________ to put them
all together and turn them into a crisis in childhood. In reality, modern ________ are
better fed, housed and more widely travelled than any ________ generation.

2. Fill in the gaps with the words below. (8 marks – 0.5 marks each)

among, better, concern, enough, has, interaction, past, preferable, sharp, should, single,
suggest, sweep, world, worse

Liberals are often afraid of appearing to _________ that any aspect of life in the past
was ________ to life today. They are afraid that doing so might label them as
conservative, or – even _________ – as unsophisticated. But the current _________
about childhood is driven by real developments, not nostalgia. The _________ rise in
rates of depression ________ the under-17s, for instance, _________ worry us all. It
________ doubled since the mid-Eighties, with more than 10% of 11-to 16-year-olds
now suffering a mental disorder serious ________ to affect their daily lives. Over the
_________ 20 years, the three pillars of children’s existence, home, _________ and
their relationship with the outside ________ – have all been eroded by longer working
hours, the rise in ________ parenthood, relentless exam testing and increased suspicion

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of child-adult _________. Liberals can’t just shrug and talk airily about how much
__________ it is to be a modern child than a chimney ________.

3. Choose the correct alternative. (8 marks)

Those depression statistics must/have/would/should be taken with a pinch of salt, says

The Independent. They may just reflect our increased willingness to put clinical labels
on everything. But it would nearly/hardly/maybe/often be surprising if Britain’s children
were depressed. Every aspect/Every aspects/Each aspects/All aspect of their lives, from
school to free time, is now micro-managed in ways that would be/was/would have
been/had been unthinkable 30 years ago – when one of the main tasks of childhood was
not bother/was to bother/was not to bother/was being bother the grown-ups. It could
be/Could it be/Couldn’t be/Couldn’t it that our care for them – guilt-driven, over-
reactive and sometimes downright paranoid – is part of the problem?
It’s surely a factor, said Charles Moore in The Daily Telegraph. There are 2.6 million
fewer under-16s in Britain than there were in 1971. Falling fertility rates have
increased/had increased/was increased/was increasing children’s rarity value and thus
the way we treat them. It was/It is/There was/There have been, perhaps, a greater ease in
childhood when children were treated more like natural conditions of adult existence,
rather than Ming vases.

4. Match titles A-E with paragraphs 1-3. There are two titles you do not

need. (6 marks - 2 marks each)

A) Tightly controlled precious commodities

B) Anxiety over modern generations
C) Increased numbers call for greater care
D) Genuine concerns
E) Nothing changed



This is the end of the test.

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Key:
1. since, different, letter, food, young (children NOT CORRECT), need, children, previous/past
2. suggest, preferable, worse, concern, sharp, among, should, has, enough, past, world, single, interaction,
better, sweep
3. should, hardly, every aspect, would have been, was not to bother, could it be, have increased, there was
4. 1 – B, 2 – D, 3 –A

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