2016届湖南长沙市高考英语二轮阅读理解训练（8）（含答案）_高考复习指南

2016届湖南长沙市高考英语二轮阅读理解训练（8）（含答案）

　　Sibling competition was identified as an important shaping force as early as in 1918. But more recently, researchers have found many ways in which brothers and sisters are a lasting force in each others’lives. Dr. Annette Henderson says firstborn children pick up vocabulary more quickly than their siblings. The reason for this might be that the later children aren’t getting the same one- on- one time with parents. But that doesn’t mean that the younger children have problems with language development. Later- borns don’t enjoy that much talking time with parents, but instead they harvest lessons from bigger brothers and sisters, learning entire phrases and getting an understanding of social concepts such as the difference between “I” and “me”.

　　A Cambridge University study of 140 children found that siblings created a rich world of play that helped them grow socially. Love- hate relationships were common among the children. Even those siblings who fought the most had just as much positive communication as the other sibling pairs.

　　One way children seek more attention from parents is by making themselves different from their siblings, particularly if they are close in age. Researchers have found that the first two children in a family are typically more different from each other than the second and third. Girls with brothers show their differences to a maximum degree by being morefeminine than girls with sisters. A 2003 research paper studied adolescents from 185 families over two years, finding that those who changed to make themselves different from their siblings were successful in increasing the amount of warmth they gained from their parents.