资源描述：
《Reading(1)：Homealone》由会员上传分享，免费在线阅读，更多相关内容在教育资源-天天文库。
1、HomealoneHowmanykidsarehomealone?AccordingtotheU.S.census,onethirdofallschoolagechildrenintheUnitedStatesare,forsomepartoftheweek,latchkeykids;thatis,theygohometoanemptyhouseorapartment.Thetotalnumbermaybebetweenfiveandsevenmillionchildrenbetweenfiveand13yearsold.MarianWrightEdelman,thedirectorofthe
2、Children'sDefenseFund,thinksit'scloseto16millionchildren.TheCensusBureaufoundthat15%werehomealonebeforeschool,76%afterschooland9%atnight.Presumably,the9%haveparentswhoworknightshifts.One-halfofallchildreninthecountryage12to14arehomealoneanaverageofsevenhoursaweek.TheverypoorinAmericaarelesslikelytol
3、eavetheirchildrenaloneathome,orallowthemtogohomealone,thanfamilieswhoearntwicethepovertyincome.Thisisprobablybecausetheverypoorliveinlesssafeneighborhoods,andhavefewerfriendsorfamilywhocanstepin,incaseofemergency.Inspiteofthehoursspentonthejob,workingmothersspendanaverageoffive-and-a-halfhoursadaywi
4、ththeirchildren. Homealone-Whataretheeffects?Whenlatchkeychildrenarefunctioningwell,wedon'thearaboutthem.Butwedohearabouttheone-thirdofallcomplaintstochildwelfareagencieswhichinvolvelatchkeychildren.Weknowaboutthe51%whoaredoingpoorlyinschool.Mostteachersbelievethatbeingaloneathomeisthenumberonecause
5、ofschoolfailure.Theafternoonhoursarethepeaktimeforjuvenilecrime.Inthelast11years,juvenilecrimehasincreased48%.TheCarnegieCouncilonAdolescentDevelopmentfoundthat8thgraderswhoarealone11hoursaweekaretwiceaslikelytoabusedrugsasadolescentswhoarebusyafterschool.TheCouncilalsofoundthatteenswhohavesexualint
6、ercoursedoitintheafternooninthehomeofboyswhoseparentswork.Unsupervisedchildrenaremorelikelytobecomedepressed,smokecigarettesandmarijuanaanddrinkalcohol.Theyarealsomorelikelytobethevictimsofcrimes.Whenhomealonelatchkeychildrengenerallywatchtelevision,eatsnacks,playwithpetsandfightwithsiblings. Making
7、thedecision:Whenisachildreadytobehomealone?Personalitycharacteristics,skills,andmaturityareusefulcriteriafordeterminingachild’sreadinesstobehomealone.Personalitydoesn’tgenerallychangemuchwithage,altho
